Unovan Wars
by EclipseSeeker
Summary: Trapped on an unknown and hostile alien world, the Maximals and Predacons become caught in an ancient local legend as they fight to survive. When Team Plasma take interest in these new Pokémon species and their powerful and unique 'special ability' the Axalon crew seek out native allies for help in understanding this backwards and outright weird planet.
1. Here there be Pokémon

Chapter 1

Here there be Pokémon

The land shook with their impact, the second ship –for that's what they both were- slid to a stop; its landing forming a new clearing for the forest, after a few minutes a small object rose from the side of the ship and shot into the air, hovering in place as it emitted two wide bands of yellow light.

The yellow bands passed over hundreds of Pokémon going about their daily lives, picking out and selecting two dozen different pieces of DNA and reconstructing the creatures. As it passed a museum in a nearby town; an ancient power reacted to its presence. It had been deep in slumber for years, perhaps centuries, waiting for the right being; and although this wasn't exactly what it had expected, at last here he was, it was time.

The tower shook as the rest of team Plasma made their presence known, as per his instructions. N knew he only had a limited time to awaken Zekrom, White was probably already on her way up the tower and his men would only stall her for so long. But he wanted her here, watching him awaken Zekrom should encourage her to seek out its legendary counterpart, Reshiram and he could finally know who was right.

Ever since that day, the day he had first met White all those months ago, he had been unsure about whether his ideals were right or not. Seeing her interact with her Lillipup… it was the first time he had ever seen a captured Pokémon happy. That had been the first seed of doubt and with every battle he had become more unsure. Eventually he had decided to use the legendary Pokémon to prove to himself once and for all who was right.

And now here he stood at the top of the tower, the dark stone sat on a pedestal a short distance in front of him. So close. He reached out only to stumble back as the entire tower shook, dislodging a few stones from the ceiling.

Cautiously N pulled himself to his feet and looked around. That tremor had been even worse than blowing a hole in the base of the tower! Had White's Excadrill misfired an earthquake attack or something? He had thought White was smarter than that, letting loose a ground type in an ancient tower like this.

Again he approached the dark stone, but just as he was about to reach out a touch it a purple light washed through the room. Upon contact with the dark stone the whole thing began to spin, energy flowing out in waves, before it froze…. And disintegrated into nothing.

When White finally reached the top, her Archen following close behind, she had been ready for an all-out battle against the green haired teen. Instead she found him standing next to a pedestal at the opposite end of the room, his back to her.

'N?' the king of team Plasma turned to look at her and she got a glimpse of a small pile of black sand sitting on the surface.

'Zekrom… Zekrom's gone… he rejected me… my ideals… perhaps… perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps team Plasma is wrong…' head down, he walked past her and vanished down the stairs.

White stood there, staring at him even after he was long out of sight as her mind tried to catch up. She turned her gaze to the room, lingering on the pile of black dust laying innocently on the pedestal, before turning to look at Rocca who let out a questioning _Arrrrc? _

Was that it? All the loss and pain that so many people had suffered at the hands of team Plasma, all the pain so many Pokémon were put through at their hands. After all N's bravo and conviction, was he really giving up just like that? Was it really over that easily?

Returning Rocca to her Pokéball, White started to follow after N when she received a call on her Xtransceiver. Answering, White saw Professor Juniper. Bianca and Cheren were also connected but to her surprise instead of her usual, cheery self; the professor's face was blank.

'Professor Juniper! What's wrong?' White picked up her pace down the tower.

'White, we found Reshiram! It was in Nacrene Museum all along!'

'Isn't that a good thing Professor?' Cheren inquired, 'now we can stop team Plasma!'

'The problem is it, well, it disintegrated into dust…'

'Professor, I'm coming in from Dragonspiral tower; I'll be in Nacrene city soon.' White switched off her Xtransceiver and raced down the stairs. Rocca was still too young to fly so she had to get to the Pokémon centre as quickly as possible and pick up her Tranquill. Something weird was going on here and she was determined to find out.

On-board the Axalon, a small (at least in comparison to most of his species) Cybertronian pulled himself out of a CR chamber and looked down at his new form in bewilderment. '_Aw man, ah 'new dis was a weird planet but dis is just plain ridiculous!_' He tried to get a better look at the long tail standing straight up behind him but the best he could get was a quick glimpse of white before it shifted out of view again.

'_Ha! You look like a neon target with all those yellow stripes, now look at this form! Sleek, powerful, now this is built for speed! Like that earth animal… ha! That's it! Call me Leopard!_' A large purple and yellow cat stepped out of a CR chamber, a hooked barb of a tail swinging behind it.

'_Ah think dat's a Cheetah ya thinkin' of_'

'_But leopard sounds way cooler_.'

'_Well if ya namin' ya'self after an earth animal den why not? Ah think Rattrap sounds 'bout right for me_.'

'_This is incredible. In all my research I've never seen anything like these forms before, there's no record of anything like this in the data banks._' The two 'bots turned to look at the newest arrival to the group and couldn't help but take a step back at the sight of the huge Cybertronian before them.

'_Whoa, that's one giant insect_' the newly named Rattrap couldn't help but comment as he eyed his old friend's new form. The transformer was a huge insect, easily twice as large as Leopard, he was covered in red and purple armour with a black underneath, he had eight small forelegs and four huge back legs that supported his body, making it look like he was constantly rearing up. It was a rather imitating sight.

'_So, watcha' callin' ya'self?_'

'_I guess Centinox works… where's Optimus?_'

'_Here Centinox, and I agree, these forms are… unusual, but they will be key in our survival on this planet._'

The final CR chamber opened and emitted the final member of their group.

'_Big bot…_' Leopard's words died on his mouth as his eyes widened in awe at their leader Optimus Primal.

The only thing they could describe his beast mode as was a giant, white dragon, so big he could barely fit into the chamber; flames flickered off his tail as he stepped out and turned a set of cold blue optics on the rest of the Cybertronians.

'_We may need energon to function, but in this case it is too much of a good thing, these beast modes should protect us from the worst of the effects._'

'_So old friend, what now?_'

'_What now Centinox? We may be on an unknown and possibly hostile world, but our mission has not changed. We must find and take down the Predacons before they repair their ship and escape._' He stepped past them and up to the small console set up to one side of the medbay, accessing the ships systems.

'_Maximals, our first duty is to find a viable source of energon and scope out the surrounding area. The Axalon picked up a race similar to humans on the scanners so we have to be careful, who knows how the local life forms will react to us and with the present threat of the Predacons' I'd rather not risk it. Our crew may be safe from the high levels of energon on this planet in their stasis pods, but it means Megatron has us outnumbered.' _He sighed as the series of short range scans he had made were completed, the results making no sense to him._ 'This is one unusual planet, wherever it is._'

'_I'll scope out the area big bot! With my speed I can outrun anything!_'

'_Leopard! Wait!_' But the catformer had already vanished into the control centre and down the elevator.

Leopard darted between the trees outside the Axalon, annoyed by how the closed spaces of the trees made it difficult to build up proper speed. What was the point of been fast if you couldn't build up speed? Off to the side he saw an opening in the tree line and he turned, seeking out the possible open space beyond.

The moment he exited into the clearing though, he knew he had made a big mistake. Before him sat what looked like a human… and next to him was a giant bird (at least, he was pretty sure birds weren't supposed to be bigger than a human) and an even bigger creature seemingly made entirely of blue and red rock.

'Hey, a Liepard! Gigalith, Rock Slide!' In a matter of seconds the male had scrambled to his feet. The rock monster -Gigalith- let out a roar and slammed two of its four massive legs against the ground, sending rocks flying up from the ground towards the young Maximal. It was only thanks to the reflexes born from stellarcycles of flying spacecraft that stopped him from been reduced to a pile of scrap metal then and there.

'Smack Down!' again Leopard barely managed to dodge the incoming rock, which was moving at an even faster speed. The stone ruffed synthetic fur as it bushed past his side; jumping gyros that was close!

'Wow Unfezant! Look at those reflexes, he'll be a great addition to the team don't you think?' The brown and grey bird next to him let out a trill in response.

The next high-speed stone hit his tail as he dodged; there was a faint crack as something broke and Leopard shouted in pain, stumbling. It was only pure luck that the next rock missed him as he stumbled away. This shouldn't be happening; he was a pilot for Primus sake! Not some Predacon gladiator without basic warning systems.

It was at that moment Centinox came racing out between the trees and rammed into Gigalith, knocking it off its feet.

'A double battle? Cool! This will be great practice for the battle subway! Go, Unfezant! Use Air Slash!' The giant bird next to him raised a wing and slashed it out from in front of its body; sending a powerful blade of air into Centinox's side. The Maximal let out a shout of pain and staggered back; energon dripping through a crack in his outer armour.

'_Centinox!_' a brown and yellow blur shot past Leopard and latched itself onto Unfezant's wing.

Rattraps attack didn't even seem to faze the bird as without prompt it released another attack, knocking Rattrap away before turning its attention back to the faux-Scolipede.

'Unfezant! Air Slash the Scolipede again, knock it out! Gigalith! Rock Slide! Don't hit the Liepard, I want it alive.'

The two creatures readied for battle; the bird shot into the air just as the rock creature slammed both its legs against the ground, forcing a mass of rocks into the air. The human turned and started to head towards Leopard, who was struggling to his feet, his tail hanging at an awkward angle sending a slew of error messages to his processor.

This was the scene Optimus Primal arrived to. The Maximal commander had been unable to follow his teammates into the forest due to his recently gained bulk and he doubted he would have ever been able to leave the clearing at all if it hadn't been for the discovery of his wings. Somehow, despite the fact that his wings were hopelessly small in comparison to his body, they were still able to carry him over the tree tops and towards the sounds of battle.

He had been expecting a lot of things; mostly an all-out battle between his teammates and the Predacons, so the sight of a human edging on a group of natives wrecking his team took him completely by surprise.

Seeing Centinox and Rattrap's impending doom at the hands (or rather, the feet) of a walking rock pile, Optimus dropped down in front of them, bringing a wing up as a temporary shield as the rocks bounced off his thick armour, leaving a number of small dents in the metal but causing no permanent damage.

The human stepped back from Leopard (and Optimus couldn't help but wince at the odd angle his tail hung, that had to hurt) and turned gaping at the giant white behemoth standing in front of him.

'Un-Unf-f-fezant… uh, attack?' the command came out as more of a question but the bird still followed it out, preparing to let off another Air Slash.

Optimus leaped into the air and swung a wing at the bird, the clawed hand at the end smashing into Unfezant and knocked her to the ground.

The terrified human pulled out two small objects and pointed them at the two creatures. 'Unfezant! Gigalith! Return!' The Pokémon vanished into a burst of red light, blinding the Cybertronians

By the time their optics readjusted, the human was gone, leaving nothing but a churned up clearing and felled trees to signify that he had ever even been there.

The Maximals pulled themselves to their feet and Optimus grabbed Centinox, carrying him back to the base, Rattrap helped a dazed Leopard to his feet and helped him stumble back the way they had come.

'_What were you thinking Leopard! You're little runabout almost put Centinox permanently off-line!_'

'_I'm sorry Optimus… I wanted to test out my beast mode; I didn't know something like this would happen._'

'A_nd even if he hadn't, this still would have happened eventually,_' the three Maximals turned to see Centinox exit the CR chamber looking good as new '_these organics are a lot stronger than anything the Maximals, or even the Autobots, have ever encountered before._'

'_Yeh, ah mean, both me an' Centinox got hit by da same attack but it a lot more damage ta him then ta me for some reason._'

'_In robot mode we should be strong enough to defend ourselves but the high levels of energon would put us into stasis-lock in a matter of cycles without our beast modes to protect us_'

Transforming into robot mode for the first time since their reformatting had been an interesting experience for all of them. Normally been reformatted would leave a Cybertronian with at least the same paint job and weapons. However Leopard had lost his blue colouring to a dark purple that covered most of his frame, leaving only a number of patches and the spots covering his frame yellow. To his dismay, his trusted blaster had also been replaced with a weapon somewhat reminiscent of a long whip with a barbed end.

Rattrap was now covered in yellow lines that just screamed 'target' and his two handguns had been replaced by a single white rifle (a type of weapon he had very little experience using). The only good thing to come out of his reformat was that he was taller than before, but he was still the smallest Cybertronian on the planet so it was kind of a moot point.

Optimus Primal had changed the most. He was huge, almost the size of a small Autobot instead of the old minibot size that all Maximals and Predacons had upgraded to. His chassis was completely white and his jetpack had been replaced by his new wing-arms. His left arm had been replaced with a large cannon that even when inactive, glowed a dull red with energy.

As Centinox transformed however, it was obvious that Centinox had also gone through a mass reformat, possibly even worse than Optimus. His chassis was primarily red with purple armour plating. The medic had gone from a bulky frame to a tall, thinner one with a set of horns adorning his head and a number of larger and smaller ones down his back- the largest pair sticking out over his shoulders. In fact the only thing that hadn't changed seemed to be his personality and voice synthesiser. Leopard almost didn't recognise the bot anymore.

'_If we have to compete with the local life as well as the Predacons, I'm not sure how long we'll survive,_' Optimus looked tiredly at the remains of his crew- at that moment he looked like he had the entire world resting on his shoulders, '_our only hope is that the Predacons are having as hard a time as we are, and that they keep a low profile._'

'_Ya really expect the Preds ta stay on the down low? Come on Optimus! Dese are Predacons we're talkin' 'bout. Loud an' flashy's more like deir style_'

'_We can only hope Rattrap, we can only hope…_'

A large red reptilian head poked out from the foliage lining the north side of Route 5, its mouth opened in a snarl as it watched a number of young humans walk past, chatting away happily as a number of small animals scurried back and forth around their feet or flew over their heads.

"_No, no, no. It's all wrong, this isn't earth, it cannot be. Megatron you fool! First you failed to destroy the Maximals following us, then you can't even navigate to the right planet!_" He snarled quietly to himself in a parody of the argument he had had with his ex-leader only a megacycle beforehand.

Dinobot glared at the organics walking past his hiding spot, as if the events of the past solarcycle were their fault rather than his own and that of the cowardly fool Megatron was. He inwardly berated himself for not noticing sooner, preferably before he had become trapped on some primus forsaken mud ball in the middle of who-knows-where. Even with the guidance of the golden disk, the idiot had still managed to get the wrong planet, it had all been for nothing.

And when Dinobot had challenged him for his right to lead this small crew of Predacons he had cemented himself as a coward and an incompetent leader in Dinobot's optics, which had led to this…

As far as Dinobot saw things, his only hope of getting back at Megatron and getting off this tiny organic world was to take over the Maximals that had followed them here and lead them against him. But first came the task of tracking down their ship, and he had no idea where they had landed, let alone getting to them. These organics were slowing him down, but he had seen how they treated the native life-forms, no doubt they would think the same of him, and he really didn't need them slowing him down even more with their pointless battles.

Dinobot was on a mission and on his honour he would succeed, even if it meant going offline to reach it. But first he had to find the slagging Maximals and without the Darksydes computer system that was going to prove a problem.

Authors notes:

Upon discovering the Beast Wars Crossover section on fanfiction, I was deeply disappointed with just how few decent stories there were and how most of those had never been finished. So, several months later when I was rewatching the old series while playing Pokémon Black, it came to me; why not write my own Beast Wars/Pokémon crossover from a completely different viewpoint then what I had seen on fanfiction so far.

Obviously by using the game instead of taking the easy route of the Anime like most people left me with a number of rather annoying problems, most of which I believe I've fixed. Because of these problems the Beast Wars Plotline and characters as you know them are going to be rather different to how they were in canon but hopefully it's still recognisable for the most part.

In trying to be as accurate as possible to the game, several of the Maximals and Predacons have had to go through compete redesigns to fit their Beast Modes, please don't hate me for what I've been forced to do to make this crossover work, for the most part I've tried to base the characters designs off of a mixture of their several different remakes throughout both the Beast Wars and Beast Machines series. I'm not sure how well it actually worked...

~EclipseSeeker


	2. This World is Crazy

Chapter 2

This World is Crazy

'White!' The girl looked down at a smiling Bianca as her Tranquill landed outside the Nacrene Museum. She hopped off, returning the Pokémon to its Pokéball before nodding to the small group before her.

'Hang on just a minute while I put away my Tranquill, then we can talk' she turned and headed for the familiar red roof, Cheren falling into step next to her.

'So… what happened up there, I was making my way up to help, but the entire time I was expecting to hear you fighting with N. I was surprised to see him come running down the tower like that, after all he's put us through, especially you…'

'It's a long story, I'd rather only tell it once…'

Cheren nodded and the two continued in silence.

Later at the Nacrene Café the four were sitting at a table, some of their smaller Pokémon next to them.

'So, what exactly happened? I've heard reports from some of the people in the area but I'm not sure what happened in the tower.' Juniper sat with her Cinccino, tea in hand as she looked at the three trainers.

'I was on my way up, in mid battle with one of team Plasma's grunts when this purple light passed through the tower-'

'It passed over the entire tower, not to mention Icirrus city, the Moor and even part of Twist Mountain, I think it originated from somewhere north-west of the city.'

The others turned to look at Bianca who shrugged, 'what? I had a good view from outside.'

'When I reached the top I discovered the dark stone had… well… disintegrated I guess.'

Professor Juniper looked down at her tea in thought. 'Hmmmm, something similar happened here, something fell from the sky; two meteorites if I'm not mistaken, sometime afterwards a yellow light swept across Pinwheel forest and even reached as far as Wellspring cave. According to Lenora the white stone they had on display crumbled on contact.'

'Professor, are you saying that the light stone was here the whole time?!' White stared at her boss in shock. After everything they had been through, it had been here the entire time?

'According to White, the stone in the museum acted in the same way as the dark stone had, so that was the light stone then…'

'Then that means that both Zekrom and Reshiram are out of the picture' White finished for Cheren before turning back to the Juniper. 'Professor, you said one of these meteorites landed in Pinwheel forest, in that case I will go and investigate, if it had something to do with the destruction of the light and dark stones then perhaps I can figure out what caused this… effect.'

The woman smiled and waved a hand at the trainer to go.

'Go, enjoy yourself. That is after all the reason I sent you three on your journeys after all, just be careful; we don't know what's there and you'll be heading far of the beaten tracks, the meteorite landed somewhere north-west of here, near the heart of Pinwheel forest.'

'Don't worry Professor, I'll be careful, and the seven of us can take care of ourselves' she patted her belt for emphasis, her hand brushing across the Great Ball that held Celiden, her Tynamo and currently the weakest member of her team before turning and running out the door of the café.

'_Fascinating, absolutely fascinating_' Centinox lifted up the small white plant he had been scrutinising upon realising it wasn't attached to the ground, red optics carefully scanning it as he turned it every which way.

'_Optimus, I'm picking up faint Energon energies,_' Leopard lifted the small device he was carrying and waved it through the air and he went, '_only problem is it's coming from everywhere, I think there's even traces inside the trees_'

The faux-Liepard let out a yelp and dropped the device as energy sparked and crackled across his frame, forcing him to revert to beast mode.

'_This planet seems to have higher levels of Energon then initial scans indicated, I doubt we can survive outside of beast mode for more than a couple of cycles before going into stasis-lock_' Optimus sighed and dragged a wing down his snout in frustration '_without our robot modes we're not strong enough to stop the Predacons and retrieve the golden disk on our own… if their even on this planet…_'

'_Eh, but Optimus, d'nt forget deir in da same mess as us, thos' slag-heads stand less a chance den us out 'ere if y'know what ah mean_'.

Rattrap stood off to the side attempting to get used to his new weapon, which was harder than sounded. Been used to firing a smaller weapon in either hand, the long barrel of the rifle made it awkward for the Maximal to aim, let alone fire. The need to transform back to beast mode every few cycles wasn't making things any easier.

Transforming back into robot mode, Leopard picked up the device again and continued with his scans, noticing a large spike in energy he walked over to the source and reached in between the roots of a tree, yanking a small orange stone out of its hidey-hole.

'_Hey, I found something!_'

Reverting to beast mode, Centinox lumbered over to Leopard and peered down at the rock.

'_That's not Energon' he frowned 'at least it doesn't look like any form of Energon I've ever seen._'

Leopard waved the device over it, the small machine whining shrilly as it passed over the stone. '_I'm picking up huge Energon readings from this rock…_' sparks washed over his chassis, cutting him off, gritting his teeth in pain he dropped both objects on the ground and transformed.

'_Oh come on! That wasn't even two cycles!_' He stumbled as he dropped from two to four legs, crashing spread-eagled on the grass.

The white plant Centinox had been studying earlier chose this moment to start moving; it jumped past Centinox and latched onto the rock. Before either Maximal could react the plant started to glow white and they were barely able to cover their optics in time.

As the light faded, all four Maximals looked on in shock at the creature standing in front of Leopard. It was brown and stood up on two legs; the white puff that had previously been the centre of the plant was now set back behind the body, somewhat reminiscent of human hair. A set of amber eyes focused on the Maximals and with a _wi-whim-sssss-k-kt, _it darted off into the surrounding forest.

'_Did anyone else see that?_' Leopard was the first to break the silence.

'_By ma great-aunt Arcee… did tha' thing jus' _mutate_?_'

'_Centinox, is it possible that the native life evolved to use Energon like that naturally?_'

'_I don't know Optimus, slaggit; this planet makes less and less sense every cycle._'

'_Then we'll just have to adapt as best as we can, I doubt we'll make much more progress today in trying to understand this planet_' Optimus sighed and turned towards the path he had unknowingly forged through the trees, '_Maximals! Return to base._'

As Leopard turned to follow he heard the faint remark of 'finally' come from Rattraps direction and stopped to look back at the 'bot. It was obvious to even the normally oblivious catbot that the smallest member of their group was taking their current situation the hardest but there was nothing he could think of that would help his fellow Maximal so he kept quiet and followed along behind.

A shout jerked the young Maximal out of his thoughts and he pushed past one of Optimus's legs to get a better look.

Standing at the entrance to the _Axalon_, effectively blocking their way was a large blue reptile with a fully red head, everything about it screamed sharp; from large red spikes that covered its body to long and wickedly sharp claws and teeth. Two short stubby wings poked out of its back completing the image of a nightmarishly warped dragon.

The four Maximals stepped into defensive positions, ready for yet another encounter with the local fauna, so it surprised the pit out of them all when the creature began to speak.

'_Attention Maximals_' the mech hissed, shifting its balance into a more ready stance, 'm_y name is Dinobot-_'

'_You... you're one of the Predacons that shot us down!_' Leopard blurted, optics wide with fear.

'_Correct Maximal, I have left the Predacons to join your group… as leader._'

'_Hmph, this guy's got bearings of chrome steel_' Centinox muttered to Rattrap, who was glaring at the reptilian, his bi-coloured optics narrow in anger.

'_But why? Why do you want to lead the Maximals? We are happy to accept you as a member of our crew_' Optimus inquired.

'_Because Megatron is a coward and a fool, so I shall take over the Maximals and lead you against the Predacons to victory._'

'_Ey! Ya can't do'tha ya filthy pred! Optimus Primal leads dis group, not you!_'

'_Then I challenge you, Optimus Primal to a one on one duel, the winner shall lead the Maximals on this planet, the loser… shall be destroyed._'

'_No Optimus! Don't do it!_' Leopard leapt forwards between the two dragons, ready to protect his captain.

The Predacon ignored the smaller bot, instead he crouched down into a defensive position, his wings arched up and out as he prepared to attack. Optimus stepped forward, over Leopard, and motioned for his crew to stay back.

'_Maximals, stay out of this, don't interfere, no matter what happens to me this will be a fair fight._'

'_But Optimus…_' Primal spread his wings, stopping Leopard. '_That's an order soldier_'

The dragon stepped towards his opponent, the others stepping back partway into the tree line. The two Cybertronians began to circle each other, waiting for the other to make the first move, then they charged, their roars echoing though pinwheel forest and beyond, turning a number of heads, both human and Pokémon.

White slowed as she looked in the general direction of the loud roar that echoed through the trees.

'What was _that_, didn't sound like any Pokémon I've ever heard before…' she trailed off as she saw smoke climb into the sky, her eyes widening in realisation. '_Fire…_'

'FIRE!'

Everyone learned at a young age, never let a fire Pokémon loose in a forest, just like the unspoken rule of never using an electric Pokémon in a river or lake or earthquake and magnitude attacks in a cave. While not actual laws all trainers- even the newbies who had just gotten their first Pokémon- knew the dangers of doing something so positively stupid. The result of such an act could and would lead to the deaths of many of the local wild Pokémon and possibly humans as well.

'Go! Rick! Maddie!' White pulled two Pokéballs of her belt and activated them, releasing an Excadrill and a Stoutland.

'Come on! We've got a fire to put out before anyone's hurt.'

'Stou!' Maddie barked, crouching down next to her trainer. Taking the hint from her oldest Pokémon, White climbed on her back, running a hand through her shaggy fur before nodding to Rick, her second oldest. Together White and her closest, most trusted Pokémon took off towards the smoke. The only thing running through her mind was the hope that they could put out the fire before anyone got hurt.

Authors Notes:

And so we reach the end of the first episode and the point when things start to deviate from the original Beast Wars plot. This also marks the shortest chapter of the entire story so I thought I'd upload it at the same time as the first as a bonus.

Looking at how much I've already written, I'd say for the first few chapters I'll be updating once a week and then we'll see where things go from there.

I apologise for the way I've written Cheetor's personality and for Rattrap's accent in advance; I'm finding both incredibly difficult to write at the moment, even with the earlier episodes to help back me up. (I'm really not looking forward to writing Silverbolt...)

And only now have I realised that some of you may be struggling with the necessary name changes so here, let me help you.

Leopard is Cheetor. Centinox is Rhinox and White is the main female character from the Pokémon Black and White game.

Please review, reviews are such a nice little extra that I really appreciate getting, especially when their questioning something about the story!

~EclipseSeeker


	3. and the Natives even Crazier

Chapter 3

…and the Natives Crazier

* * *

Maddie and Rick slowed as they burst out of the trees and into a clearing that White was pretty sure hadn't been here the last time she had passed through Pinwheel forest. Dropping down from Maddie's back she was about to ask the Stoutland and Excadrill to help put out the fire, but stopped dead at the sight before them.

In the middle to the clearing where two Pokémon, locked in the midst of a battle. White instantly recognised the smaller one as a Druddigon but the larger of the two combatants… her eyes widened in shock as she finally recognised it. 'Reshiram…'

Reshiram pulled back away from its opponent, spreading its wings wide. With a roar its wings alit with flames and it threw them forwards in a massive sweep, hurling a tornado of fire at the Druddigon. The smaller dragon, unable to dodge in time, was slammed back into a tree.

It jumped back up, throwing itself at Reshiram, and only White noticed the number of small fires catching onto the surrounding foliage, _I need to stop this before they burn the whole forest down._

'Maddie, Rick, put out the fires, but keep away from the battle and please try to avoid getting caught in the middle.' Rule three of been a Pokémon Trainer; never get involved in another's battle. The two Pokémon nodded in understanding and dug their way underground, vanishing into the hole.

_Now to stop this battle._ A Screech that reminded White of metal been dragged across concrete alerted her to the other observers nearby. Turning to her left she spotted a Liepard, a Watchog and a Scolipede watching the battle from behind the tree line.

The Liepard attempted to dart out and join the battle, it screeched again as the Watchog forced it back with a loud chirp, its tail swinging in agitation.

White couldn't help but stare at what was definitely the strangest scene she had even seen in her life. Glancing between the two combatants and the spectators, it became obvious to her that none of these were ordinary Pokémon, but rather something completely new. Were these creatures even Pokémon? Well there was nothing else they could possibly be so that meant…

'_MAXIMISE!_' White's jaw dropped as she watched the being she had believed to be Reshiram come apart and _transform_. Sure White had heard of a number of different Pokémon with the ability to transform under specific conditions but she had never actually _seen_ it before… and nothing so massive and complete as this. She stepped out from under to cover of the trees…

* * *

Centinox was the first to see the young female human step out of the foliage and into the middle of the battle area. For a moment he just watched, getting his first proper look at a human. He had heard so much about them as a race, they had been one of the key non-Cybertronian races in ending the Great War between Autobots and Decepticons. Back on Cybertron he had done so much study on their decedents... to actually get a good look at one without fighting for his life…

He immediately pushed down the scientist inside him and began to move towards the young female, intent on keeping her out of the battle. Optimus-like his namesake-wouldn't like it if a human got hurt accidentally from one of their fights.

The human spun around to face him as he got close, pulling something into her hand; most likely some sort of weapon. He stopped, lowering his upper body as much as possible to try and convey that he didn't want a fight. He had no idea if she understood first-contact English or any future variation of it and he knew no other earth language to try.

'You're not going to attack me?' She asked after a moment's hesitation, unknowingly answering his question.

'No' was the best he could manage with his Beast Mode's mouth without resorting to Cybertronian or the comm. systems.

The human seemed shocked he had answered and Centinox realised that whatever his Beast Mode was, it wasn't known for talking English, though a quick glance over to Optimus proved that any possible deception had already been thrown out the window. Their leader was making good use of his flight advantage and was now throwing great bursts of fire at the Predacon from his cannon arm.

The Maximal medic slipped in front of the human, blocking her route out into the battle. 'Not safe.'

'I have to stop them! Their gonna burn the entire forest down!'

He shook his head –really a slow sweeping motion at best.

'No interfere.' Curse this beast mode's inability to form decent speech! With a final glance over to the combatants, Centinox transformed.

'_Centinox, Maximise!_' He quietly cursed himself again when she took a step back. He hadn't meant to scare her.

'Don't be afraid little one; I'm not going to hurt you.' His words had the desired affect and she stopped, focused solely on him, she even went as far as to step forward again and reached out a hand, hesitantly placing it against his arm.

'What _are_ you?'

She seemed to snap out of her wonder when Dinobot jumped out of the way of a particularly powerful blast, setting a tree behind him ablaze.

'Wait, forget I asked, right now we have more important things to worry about.'

The human made to head into the battle area again and Centinox had to put out an arm to stop her.

'Stop, it's too dangerous for anyone to go near and any interference would leave this duel moot' the young human put her hands of her hips and glared up at him, the look didn't faze him, he had seen far worst from his mentor plenty of times.

'But we have to put out the fires before they burn the entire forest down and hundreds of Pokémon with it!'

A loud screech sounded from behind the two, causing them both to turn and look back towards the other Maximals. Both were slowly backing away from the wall of fire slowly spreading towards them, Rattrap was all but dragging a petrified Leopard away from the licking flames.

'_Leopard! Snap outta it or were both gonna be roasted alive!_'

With a quiet curse, Centinox raced over to the large feline and hefted him up, carrying him away from the spreading fire.

'_What do we do Centinox! Dis forests comin' down 'round our helms and Optimus is stuck right in da middle of it!_'

'Hey!'

Surprisingly enough, everyone -even the combatants- stopped to look at the small organic standing in their midst.

'You two do realise your both dragon type right? That means you're resistant to fire based attacks.' She smiled as she continued 'so why not try the "yellow fire"? It's a dragon based attack so it should be more effective.'

Optimus stared at her for a moment longer before turning back to his opponent; he rotated his cannon arm with a flick of his arm and fired again. Instead of the short but powerful bursts of red energy he had been throwing at his opponent earlier, a continuous stream of orange and yellow plasma shot out of the mouth of the cannon, glancing off the Predacon as he threw himself to the side.

Dinobot roared in pain as he crashed to the ground, his right arm and wing blackened and smoking slightly. With a growl he heaved himself off and ground and turned to face the large dragon-former. '_Dinobot, Maximize!_'

White watched in awe and the smaller dragon also transformed. His body became a twisting mass of parts as his arms and head shifted out of the way to be replaced with more human-like versions. His blue armoured skin folded up and reformed to fit his new shape, some of it vanishing into who-knows-where. The transformation ended with the top half of the Druddigon's head clicking into place in the centre of his upper chest.

The now more human-like Pokémon reached back behind his back, his right arm grabbing his tail while his left snatched up his wings. The parts disconnected as his touch and he brought them out in front of himself as the tail reassembled into a large broadsword and the wings connected together to form a shield.

Dinobot cut loose a roar as he charged his larger opponent, his sword glowing blue as he slashed it across Reshiram's leg, to their surprise it cut deep into his armour, nicking the internals of the dragon's leg.

The white dragon staggered back, pulling his leg off of the length of the sword. Once free his leg collapsed, unable to fully support him anymore, forcing him into an almost kneeling position- his right hand braced against the ground for support.

Dinobot walked over to his fallen opponent, the light of the surrounding flames flickering off his armour as he raised his sword to deal the final blow.

'_OPTIMUS!_' the Liepard leaped forwards with a fear filled screech, the sound of iron clashing echoing around the clearing and forcing White to cover her ears as she twisted away from the sight before her.

Instead she watched the tall purple and red being that had been a Scolipede move in front of the feline, stopping him from running out and blocking the battle from view at the same time. The Watchog's eyes met with hers before looking away, watching the ever-growing forest fire raging around them and for a moment she wondered where Rick and Maddie were. None of them could bear to watch the death of another- each for their own, different reasons.

'_Goodbye Optimus Primal, you were a worthy opponent, I will see you recycled with full honours.'_

…and then White looked up, just in time to see Reshiram raise his left arm, the cannon glowing the bright orangey-yellow of Dragon Breath, and fired point blank into the faux-Druddigon's chest. The blue and red bipedal flew backwards into the mass of flames; there was a crash and with a long creaking groan one of the trees slowly collapsed to the ground sending embers high into the air.

For a moment there was near complete silence besides the faint crackle of the flames. Then with a grunt Reshiram heaved himself to his feet, slowly making his way towards were Dinobot had fallen. Immediately the Pokémon who had spoken to her earlier raced over, clicking and whistling in that strange language of theirs that sounded nothing like any version of Pokébabble White had ever heard before.

'_Stop, your badly injured, the energon build up-_'

'_Can be dealt with later, there's a spark I have to save first._'

Reshiram heaved himself onwards, using his wings to help pull himself to the tree line and vanished into the flames, everyone watching after his rapidly disappearing form.

They were distracted when the ground started to shake, dirt and small plants shot into the air nearby, extinguishing some of the fire. Moments later a brown, red and silver form pushed itself up out of the ground and moved over next to White.

The Cybertronian's tensed, ready to protect the young human femme but to their surprise she smiled, reaching out run her hand along its grey, spiked head.

'Rick! Such a creative use of Rock Slide and Dig! Well done, you and Maddie are both doing great with your training.'

'Wait, hold on a second 'ere, your tellen me dat creatures yours?'

'Yes, Rick was my second Pokémon, we've worked together for a long time- haven't we, old friend?'

'_Exca-ca… dri dril! Ca-ca exdri!' _The Excadrill bobbed his head in agreement before turning to look back at the ever growing flames.

'Go on, let's get this forest safe again.'

'_Cadri!'_

The driller Pokémon dived back into the ground, the tunnel closing up behind him. White turned back to the strange Pokémon only to find them staring at her with a harsh look.

'What?'

'Your one'a dem? Dose humans who send dose creatures to attack others?'

She stared at the faux-Watchog in bewilderment for several seconds before she looked down, her mouth narrowing into a thin line.

'I'm guessing you ran into one of the more… ambitious trainers. Not all of us are like that, but there are always those who get… drunk on power I guess.'

'So you're not going to randomly attack us or try to capture us or something?' The feline looked up at her with surprisingly innocent looking eyes for a Liepard.

'No, and I doubt many would be interested in any of you besides the big guy back there as long as you don't make it obvious you're not just ordinary old Pokémon, although you will always get the odd new trainer or fanatic who'll take interest in any fully evolved Pokémon.' She tapped her finger against her chin in thought.

'Evolv-'

'_Centinox, Leopard, Rattrap, I need your help._'

The three Pokémon turned and headed over to their leader, who was pulling himself from the flames, which were extinguished by a small wave of water for somewhere behind him as the legendary stepped out, a limp and blackened form hanging over his shoulder and powerful streams of energy arching across his armour. Centinox- been the closest thing they had to a medic- ran over and gently lifted the damaged form from his shoulder and began to move back towards there ship at a fast pace.

'_You're helpin' da scalebelly? Why? 'es a filthy Pred!_'

'_I will not leave anyone to deactivate in such a horrible way, Rattrap. Dinobot may be a Predacon, but he has left Megatron's command and I offered him a place with our crew. Like it or not he's one of us now, and I expect him to be treated as such._'

The two smaller Pokémon transformed and helped their leader over to the ship and White watched as the arching energy vanished from his body as soon as they got close enough to what she guessed was their den, which appeared to be some sort of space craft, which meant… These Pokémon were like Elgyem or Clefairy; they had come from another planet.

'You're aliens…' she breathed out as she joined them on what appeared to be some sort of lift.

She stumbled slightly as it jolted up into the centre of the ship and the fake Liepard reached out to steady her before she could fall.

'Yep. We're Maximals from the planet Cybertron, my names Leopard and this is Rattrap, what's your name?'

'White. And I have to admit Leopard, your race are pretty cool, I mean I've met a few alien Pokémon before, heck my mom used to work alongside one as a trainer, but I've never heard of one with abilities like yours, can you turn into other Pokémon?'

Leopard shook his head, 'no, each of us can only turn into one set form; we call it our 'Beast Mode'.'

'Beast Mode huh? Well I have to admit you're all really quite different to any other Pokémon I've ever come across, Professor Juniper will have a field day learning about all of you.'

'Professor Juniper? Is he your races leader?'

White laughed, stretching out an arm with a small red and white object in it and pointed it at the brown creature- the Excadrill- who had just buried the last of the nearby fires. A beam of light shot out of it and connected with the creature, engulfing it in a bright, white glow. When the glow vanished, so had the creature, leaving nothing more than charred trees and scorched earth in the clearing created by the Axalon upon its crash landing.

She shook her head as the sight was lost from view. 'No, she is a scientist, a researcher, who specialises in the study of Pokémon. She is also the one who gave us our first Pokémon, allowing us to begin our own Pokémon journey across Unova. In return we act as field researchers for her as we go, that's why I need to tell her about all this. I mean, an entirely new race of Pokémon! There will be trainers all over Unova who would do anything to have one on their team! That's why she needs to know, for your own safety, because she's the only one in Unova who can say you… Maximals are off limits for capture.'

'We would appreciate it White, this world is so strange, we need all the help we can get to survive.' Reshiram stepped off the platform as it arrived and walked past the mass of controls and monitors that made up the Bridge, heading for an opening to one side of the room.

White raced after him, trying to keep up with his longer stride, but couldn't help but marvel at the size of everything around her as she past, this ship had definitely not been built for someone her size, nor that of the Maximal leader. While she was too small for the systems the ship sported, he was far too big; having to duck slightly as he passed through the entrance to the room.

'Then I'll happily take over as mentor for a while. There are only the five of you right?'

'For the moment, however there are eleven of us in orbit, nineteen stasis pods in total. They will eventually fall one by one. They are set to lock onto the ships signal and come down as close as possible, I fear that the Predacons will find them first so we must be ready for them.'

'The Predacons?'

'The Maximals and Predacons are of the same race, but we were split centuries ago when our home world, Cybertron, was engulfed in a civil war. The two original factions are long gone; however we remain divided, the Predacons refusing to re-join with the Maximals, following their ancestors ways. It was an uneasy truce that has lasted for centri-vorns.'

'And these Predacons… their here as well?'

'Yes, a group of Predacons stole an ancient Maximal artefact, the golden disk, and escaped off planet, we were sent after them as our ship was the only one with a transwarp drive ready and able to leave the planet. We had to leave several of our crew behind in the rush to follow them.'

They stepped inside a room partway down the corridor and the dragonbot moved over to one of the machines lining the wall-the largest of the lot. The lid shut behind him, locking him inside as it started up.

'Are they dangerous? To us I mean.'

It took several moments before he answered and for a moment, White couldn't help but wonder if he could even hear her in there.

'Their ancestors, the Decepticons, considered themselves above all organic life and often attacked and killed sentient races such as your own for the fun of it.'

'In that case it might be best if we tell Professor Juniper as soon as possible, before someone gets hurt by mistaking them for ordinary Pokémon and trainers are probably coming out here looking for the cause of the fire as we speak.'

'It will take several megacycles for my systems to be fully repaired, until then I must remain in here.'

'No offence big guy but walking into Nacrene as Reshiram would be just as bad as walking in in your humanoid form, if not worse.'

'What's a Reshiram?' White turned to see Leopard enter the room and couldn't help but marvel at the massive change in size. In his Beast Mode, Leopard only came up to her stomach, most of his height been lost to the length of his body. But in his bipedal mode, she only just passed his hips.

'More like _who_. Reshiram is one of what we call a legendary Pokémon, a being of great power, the only one of its kind in existence and your Beast Mode looks exactly like it.'

'Hmmm, it's true the scanners picked for us the strongest alt-mode suited for our frames within its range, if one of these 'legendary' Pokémon was in range then it is likely the reformatting systems would have given it to any of us who would fit as our Beast Mode.'

'And as the only flier in our group, Optimus would have been given any suitable flight capable alt!' Leopard exclaimed, looking rather proud of himself- White wondered how young he actually was.

'But that still leads back to the problem at hand. You're too big and obvious and at least for the moment, the second you step into town you're going to have every trainer in the area trying to battle you at once. No, if any of you are going to come with me, it needs to be someone smaller, more discreet. Someone I can play off as one of my Pokémon.'

'Centinox is needed here to repair Dinobot, however you can take Leopard and Rattrap with you. Neither is needed for anything important right now.'

'Right then, just let me find my missing Pokémon and we'll head off'.

* * *

Authors Notes:

This chapter took so much editing to try and get right. In the end I kinda cheated slightly and went back to the original cartoon to get a better idea of the battle between Optimus Primal and Dinobot.

Don't worry yourselves folks! As is probably already obvious I'm not following the main plotline nor do I have any plans to. There's a number of episode that will be impossible to replicate or even hint at on this planet and some events will be occurring what appears to be rather early or late in the plotline. This is mainly for convenience sake and I'll be adding in some of my own content, especially with the involvement of Team Plasma.

I hope I'm doing everyone justice. Any oocness and discrepancies in their personalities are for the most part on purpose but if your willing to tell me _how_ I can improve and keep them in character then feel free to yell at me all you want for failing to stay in character.

As of now I have all the way up to chapter six written and the first twelve chapters planned out in dot points. There's no way I'm leaving this story half finished!

Still, comments are highly appreciated right now so don't forget to review! Its always nice to know your work is been enjoyed.

~EclipseSeeker


	4. Telling the Grownups

Chapter 4

Telling the Grownups

* * *

White looked around as they exited the Maximal ship, taking in the destruction caused by the two Maximals minutes ago. She, Rattrap and Leopard stepped away from the ship and turned to watch as it vanished from sight.

The full cloaking shield would only last for a few hours before their meagre energon supplies would run out (White had no clue what _that_ was, she would have to ask later), but it would do until they could get Professor Junipers help in protecting the Maximals from over enthusiastic Trainers. If worst came to worst, White would pretend to be their Trainer for a while- _if_ her boss would allow it.

Glancing around the clearing, she raised her fingers to her lips and let out a sharp whistle and she walked towards what was left of the tree line.

Receiving no response she frowned before cupping her hands and shouted. 'Maddie! Where are you girl! Maddie!?'

Her call echoed throughout the forest but still received no response. The whole forest was eerily quiet since the fire had scared everything far from the area.

'Perhaps I can find her' Leopards offered; lifting his head he sniffed the air, trying to pick up a scent.

'That way, there's some sort of coppery smell mixed with- ergh! That's nasty!' He ducked his head under a paw, shutting off his olfactory senses.

A foreboding feeling of dread welled up inside of her as she took off, racing off in the direction the Liepard had indicated, stomach churning as she vaulted over a charred log and stopped dead.

There, lying half buried under a fallen tree was Maddie- White's Stoutland. The Trainer raced over, falling to her knees next to the still form.

The two Maximals caught up just in time to hear her whisper:

'No, please no. Not again… please.'

She wrapped her arms around the shaggy form, crying into the thick fur.

'White…'

several cycles past before she answered, lifting her head away from the limp form.

'Help me bury her, then we're going to go find Juniper and get you guys safe.'

The two Maximals looked between each other before moving to help her pull the tree off the slowly cooling form of her first Pokémon.

None of them spoke until they reached one of the semi frequented paths passing through the depths of Pinwheel Forest.

* * *

Cheren looked up from where he was standing just outside the town as White approached, stopping mid word as he caught sight of the two unfamiliar Pokémon following his oldest friend. Bianca turned around, shouting out a greeting as she spotted her best friend as well. Her arm waving enthusiastically in welcome as she raced over.

'White! Are you alright! Oh, we were so worried when we saw the smoke and those roars… I've never heard a Pokémon like that before. Cheren was just about to go running in after you… Is everything all right?' She frowned at the dark look on White's face and took a hesitant step forwards.

'White?'

'I need to talk to Professor Juniper, right now.' Both of the Trainers were shocked at the emotionless tone of their friend's voice but stepped aside to allow her through.

'White…'

'It important,' she glanced back at Rattrap and Leopard, the former of which was looking at the two new Trainers with deep distrust as he shifted closer to the latter under the stares they were been given.

'I… I found something out there in the forest, something incredible and almost unbelievable and I need to tell Juniper as soon as possible, preferably somewhere private and out of sight.'

'Well then, we're coming with you. Don't give us that look White, we're your friends and no matter what's happened we're sticking by you, after all, what else are friends for?' Bianca grabbed her friend's hand with a smile, ignoring the hiss from the Watchhog behind her.

White nodded at her two oldest friends before motioning to the two Pokémon to follow her, setting off into the town to find her boss.

She found her standing outside the museum talking to Lenora in a fast hushed tone. They looked by as she approaches, waving her over.

'Did you find anything White?'

"Yes and I have good news and bad news. There's something I need to show you… and I think it would be best if we can have complete privacy. It… has to do with the meteors, the strange lights, the loss of the dark and light stones and even the fire in Pinwheel forest, their all connected and…'

She trailed off as the Watchog behind her bumped into her, giving her a look as she glanced down. She looked back up the two adults before her, her face set into a grim line.

'That privacy would probably be a good thing right now…'

'Right, in that case we can use my office.'

Lenora led them through the museum towards the staircase at the back of the massive room. White found herself smiling as she watched the two smaller Maximals look back and forth between all the exhibits, seemingly unable to focus on anyone thing for more than a moment in Leopards case.

Upon reaching Lenora's office hidden beneath the library that made up the gym, Lenora turned around and, after everyone was inside, closed the door with a dull 'thunk' and a faint 'click'.

'Wow, you've cleaned up the place since I was here for my second badge.'

'Indeed, White. There's not much to do around here in-between challengers besides running the museum. So, what did you find?'

White took a deep breath.

'Well for starters, the meteorites weren't exactly meteorites… they were a pair of spaceships belonging to two rival races of alien Pokémon; the Maximals and the Predacons. The light display that started up not long after their crash landing was their scanners picking out forms to made use of their special ability.' she spoke quickly, getting it out as fast as she could before her nerves got to her. Everything just sound so... unbelievable.

'Two new species of Pokémon… and they're the cause for all our recent problems? What do you mean "special ability"?'

'Yes, including the fire which the Maximal leader apologies for, he didn't realise his fire attacks would cause that much damage, as for the rest of it… well I think it might be best if you asked one of them yourself,' she gestured to the two Pokémon next to her, 'I think that between them they could answer practically any reasonable question you put towards them'

The four other humans in the room looked at the two Pokémon with bewilderment. 'Ah White, you do realise their just two ordinary Pokémon right?'

She looked from Cheren to the two and back again before sighing and rounding on them.

'Oh come on guys, your making me look stupid!'

The Watchog twisted its attention from the humans who weren't White to the young Trainer wearing glasses, who it immediately fixed with its strongest glare and then- to the amazement of those watching -he spoke.

'Don't trust 'em'

White sighed, burying her face in her faces. 'Rattrap! We've talked about this already; they're not going to suddenly jump out and try to kidnap any of you. None of them are like that!'

Rattrap simply returned to glaring at the four. After several moments the Liepard stepped forwards, head held high.

'Fine, Rattrap no trust, I go instead. Leopard, _Maximise!_'

With a snarl the catbot reared back as the transformation began, body parts twisting in a way that no being should be capable of until they reassembled a moment later into the form of a large metal being. Glowing green optics focused on the small humans surrounding him as he pulled himself up to his full height… and promptly banged his head of the ceiling.

'Ow,' he crouched down rubbing his head in annoyance, 'Why do they always make the ceilings so damn low?'

The Watchog followed his partners' example, transforming with his own shout of 'Maximise'. 'Eh, great job kitty cat, jus' go an' blow our cover why don'cha?'

'What?' He blinked in surprise as Rattrap turned his glare on him, 'no seriously Rattrap, what did I do wrong?'

'Wha' did ya do wrong? You jus' broke every rule in da Autobot code, dat's wha'!'

The taller of the two scoffed, folding his arms. 'Oh come on, it wasn't _every _rule in the code, and we're not even Autobots so it doesn't count!'

'Eh-hem'

The two Maximals stopped and turned to look at White for a moment before Leopard's eyes widened. 'Oh right, sorry White, continue.'

'So, Professor, is there anything you'd like to ask them?'

The Pokémon researcher attempted to recover as all attention turned to her. 'You said your race are alien Pokémon?'

'Yes, we come from the planet Cybertron which is, well, a very long way away from here. We were chasing down a group of Predacons when they shot us down over this planet; I was barely able to get our ship down in one piece! Though we kinda lost over half the crew in the upper atmosphere due to a hull breach…'

'So your group is made up of just the few who survived the crashlanding?'

'No! I mean, the others are safe inside their stasis pods orbiting the planet! They'll all come down one by one eventually, no problem. Unless the Predacons get a hold of any of the stasis pods, then we've really got a problem, mabye. It's really not that hard to turn a Maximal into a Predacon and we really don't need any more Preds running 'round on this world.'

'These Predacons, should we be worried about them?'

''Cons have been known to attack anyone they feel like, in the past they've been known to kill organics for the fun of it. I don't know these particular Predacons myself so who knows how they'll react to your kind.'

'I'll have to have a word with the elite four,' Lenora spoke up 'the Pokémon League will probably have to issue a warning to all trainers in Unova to watch out for both Maximals and Predacons.'

'And that means I'll probably have to give a short report on what the Maximals and Predacons are.' Professor Juniper joined in. 'This is going to send the World League into a frenzy; the discovery of two new Pokémon species in such a short period of time, and both been Pokémon races from another planet.'

'It would probably be best to mention Predacons general dislike towards other races, the better prepared you are for if they decide to go on a rampage, the better.' Leopard turned his attention to the adults, 'say, are there any majorly populated areas anywhere near the Unovan borders?'

'The nearest region is the Hoenn region a couple of hundred kilometres to the west, across the ocean. Why do you ask?'

'Only a couple a' hundred? Dat's close enough dat Maximals could start showin' up there, not many mind ya but even one a' two's enough ta attract Predacon attention.'

'So is it going to be a problem for us?'

'Na,' Leopard waved his hand dismissively, 'we'll bring it up with the Boss-bot but there's nothing we can really do about it but sit tight and wait.'

'You mentioned you have a leader? Is it possible for us to meet him?'

'I think it should be fine,' White butted in with a glance to Rattrap for confirmation, 'but you'd have to come out into Pinwheel forest to do so, I'm not sure how well people would react to his secondary form.'

'Why?'

'Well… you remember the old stories about how there can only be one of each Legendary Pokémon or their power would be too great and unbalance the world or something?'

Cheren's eyes widened. 'You don't mean… their leader took the form of a legendary Pokémon!?'

'Yeh, I figured out what happened to Reshiram when I first stumbled upon them, apparently they take on the form of the most powerful Pokémon compatible with them in range and excluding their leader, none of them are flight capable so he got the sole pick from all nearby flight capable Pokémon. Which meant he got the most powerful flight capable Pokémon in the area, Reshiram himself.'

'And since there can't be two of the same legendary Pokémon…'

'The real Reshiram was destroyed.' White finished Bianca's sentence, leaving the room in silence. Finally Cheren spoke.

'So if that's what happened to the light stone then what happened to the dark stone, what happened to Zekrom?'

'If none of us have taken this Zekrom's form then that means… Jumping Gyros! One of the Predacons must now be a legendary!'

'That's bad…'

'Really bad.'

'Yes, you guys said you're at war right? If your leader is Reshiram and one of the Predacons is Zekrom, then that means it going to be like the ancient Unova war all over again!'

'Da Unovan wars… dis jus' keeps gettin' better an' better. Oh boy.'

* * *

Dinobot came online to find himself trapped in a small pod, barely big enough for him.

Its safe to say he panicked.

'No, no, NO! Let me out! LET ME OUT!' His roars appeared to go unheard.

He discovered both his sword and his shield were missing and it wasn't hard to figure out where he was. And to think he had believed the Maximals were above torture chambers, though he was surprised to find he was still functioning. Perhaps they wanted to interrogate him first before they carried out the end of the duel agreement and deactivated him.

Surprisingly enough, he had also been fully repaired as well.

He banged his servos against the metal, trying to rip the door off of this torture chamber so he could tear each and every Maximal on this ship apart!

So when a tall, lanky mech opened the hatch, he leaped out onto him, claws ripping at red and purple armour as he fought back against his captor…

Dinobot was heaved off the ground by his servos, long purple digits digging slightly into his wrist joint as he was held faceplate to faceplate with the other mech.

'Calm. Down.'

He sneered, 'you Maximals have no honour; trapping your defeated enemies in a torture chamber and interrogating them. You're no better than Megatron.'

'Stand down Dinobot,' the two turned to look as another of the perceived 'torture chambers'- larger than the one he had been in- slid open with a faint hiss, releasing the Maximal commander.

'I would prefer if you refrained from attempting to deactivate our only medic after all the work he did to repair the fire damage to your internals. Besides, Maximals- unlike the Predacons- don't have torture chambers.'

'Why Maximal? Why would you repair your enemy? And why am I still online?'

'Your term for our battle were not my own, the Predacons might believe in killing their opponents after defeating them in combat, but as Maximals we never attack an opponent once their down and unable to fight back.'

'Then you are weak Optimus Prime.'

'Perhaps by those standards, yet I was still able to beat you in fair combat.'

The dragon turned and began to walk towards to door, stopping at the entrance to the medbay.

'Oh, and Dinobot? Welcome to the Maximals.'

He stepped out of the room and vanished down the corridor without looking back, leaving Dinobot alone with the medic.

* * *

_Professor Juniper of the Pokémon research society has released information earlier today noting the discovery of two new Pokémon species that are said to have arrived on earth during yesterdays unexpected meteor strike. These new species which have been formally named Maximals and Predacons are considered to be highly intelligent and naturally capable of human speech. Professor Juniper had this to say when questioned about the nature of these previously unknown Pokémon species:_

'_We were lucky enough to gain contact with one of these two new Pokémon races, who call themselves the Maximals, through them we were able to discover the source behind the recent strange events in both_ _Icirrus city, Nacrene city and surrounding areas was due to both Maximal and Predacon technology and their attempts to learn about our world._

_The proof of alien life is nothing new to us; however access to alien technology such as the Maximal's ship is an unprecedented discovery for science and the advancement of technology, the Maximal leader has already offered a peaceful trade in technology and information between our two races.'_

'_The Maximals and Predacons have proven themselves to be far more advanced than any other known Pokémon species and have a rather unusual special ability: upon arriving on a planet, they are able to take on a single, semi-permanent secondary form based on the life forms in the local area at the time. This special ability is shared by both species and makes it difficult to tell them apart from each other and other Pokémon races at first sight.'_

'_Our contact with these two races has been limited to just the Maximals, and all our knowledge of their counterpart and rival species, the Predacons, stems from what we have learned from them. We are already in strong communication with the Maximals through a representative of the Trainer population and will be posting any information we are given access to for viewing by the general public. We are also planning to send out a Pokédex update with basic information to all Unovan and National Pokédexes within the next week.'_

_The Unovan League has issued a warning to all trainers in Unova to avoid attempting to capture any of these new Pokémon until more is known about them and their unique abilities and requests that any sighting of falling meteors over Unova and Hoenn to be reported to the League as quickly as possible…_

* * *

From his position on the commander's chair in the centre of the Darksyde's bridge Megatron glared at the damaged walls and equipment surrounding him.

Ever since he had terminated his second in command with a blast from his altered cannon, the situation had been steadily going downhill. His crew had become extremely wary of him, avoiding him for the most part and remaining as quiet and unnoticeable as possible when they couldn't. To make matters worse it seemed that most of this planets supply of raw energon was locked in minute amounts in the local flora and fauna, making it extremely difficult to collect and store for later use.

And then there were the native organics… It seemed he had underestimated just how powerful they were and just how much of a hindrance the energon build up was in dealing with them. Both Terrorsaur and Staticglide had found out the hard way when they had gotten caught up in a battle with several giant birds while scouting out the surrounding area. They were both still in the CR pools under extensive repair.

The only real piece of good news since then was Scorponok's discovery of one of their mega cannons that had broken off the ship during their crashlanding; it was the only working one they had and was currently been attached to the tip of one of the ships wings on a platform they had been busy constructing.

But all this was minor setbacks at most. What really angered him was the fact that his primary objective was now impossible. Oh sure he could still collect up massive amounts of energon and use it to lead the Predacons to victory over the control of Cybertron, but his true plan- the one that not even his second (who up until their arrival on this planet had been the most trusted member of his little team) had known about- was now impossible to accomplish, and all because they had crash landed on some unknown backwater organic world that was even more of a primitive and useless mudball then Earth.

It was irritating, frustrating to the extreme. It was the reason he had deactivated Dinobot when he had challenged him for leadership, something he was now starting to regret (especially when dealing with his wayward crew) but there was nothing he could do to change that so now he just had to deal with everything himself.

Oh how he hated the Maximals who had chased him down and shot his ship out of the Transwarp tunnel, throwing his... 'appropriated' ship off course and creating this problem. Oh how we would enjoy terminating them one by one and using their ship to fix his, then he could get back on track with perhaps a few new loyal crew members as a bonus. Yesss.

* * *

Authors Notes:

Yeh, so I went and killed one of the main characters Pokémon. Recently I've gone through the deaths of a number of people close to me and it made me realise, this is one of the real life areas the Pokémon games fall short on. Death in an ordinary part of life and while it is mentioned throughout the Pokémon genre, its something that never seems to happen around the main character. Anywhere. This is something the rules of Nuzlock try to fix and a concept I feel is rather necessary for future plotlines.

On a happier note: Reviews!

I got my first three reviews for this story on the last chapter. A special thankyou to Krazyfanfiction1 for giving this story its first review and to make things even better, one of my most favourite authors on this entire site gave me a positive review! *does happy dance* and your right KHGiggle, accents are annoying to write, however putting in the correct speech patterns for all of the canon characters is the only thing stopping my mind from beating me up over all the little mistakes that I _know_ are in here somewhere. Looking forward to the next chapter in your Butterflies series.

And last but not least, Haseo55. Yes I realise Rhinox would have made a great Rhyhorn, but there are two major problems with that idea. Firstly, Rhyhorn is not a generation V Pokémon and second, Rhyhorns are not found naturally in Nacrene and surrounding areas at _any_ point in the game, let alone at this point in the story line. I had enough trouble with the Predacon's Beast Modes to go and create is whole side thing just to give Rhinox a canon-like Beast Mode. Following the restrictions I've given myself, its just not possible. So no, he remains Centinox the Scolipede. But thankyou for the suggestion.

In the end I only just got the next chapter done two minutes before I started final editing for this one, because of how far behind I've fallen I've decided to slow down update speeds to once every two weeks. Don't worry though because the first 12 chapters of this story are fully planned out and tomorrow I'll start on writing chapter six.

~EclipseSeeker


	5. the Problem with Incompetent Rivals

Chapter 5

The Problem with Incompetent Rivals

* * *

On the edge of Icirrus city, an elder man and his grandson were busy setting up an old telescope up on top of one of the surrounding hills, looking forward to a long night of stargazing. The young boy was so excited he was unable to take his eyes off the night sky long enough to help, instead watching the stars pop up in the sky one by one as the sun dipped below the horizon.

The elder had just finished setting up the barrel of the telescope when he was distracted by the little boy's cries of delight.

'Look Granpapa! A shooting star coming to say hello!'

The looked up into the night sky and to his shock, the boy was right. Together they watched as the meteor shot by overhead and slammed into Twist Mountain, ripping huge chunks out of the side of the rock face as it disappeared from sight.

Telescope forgotten he raced over to where he had placed his Xtransceiver and snatched it up off the ground, activating it as he went. He quickly flicked through the frequency codes until he came to one of his older ones, this one belonging to an old colleague of his and a fellow part time astronomer.

It took several seconds for the static to mostly leave the screen (like with most of the older Xtransceivers the local energy fields loved messing with the circuitry) as the connection was fully established.

He smiled at the face on the other end- a man who, while old, was still much younger than him.

'Hello Professor Juniper, it been awhile and I just made the most interesting of discoveries…'

* * *

Leopard pulled up the outside camera as the console beeped, signalling sudden movement larger than most of the local life just outside the Axalon entrance, he smiled as he spotted his favourite native moving towards the ship with another strange organic unlike anything he had ever seen before (which was becoming a common occurrence).

He immediately lowered the lift, bringing her and the giant bird up into the ship.

'What's shaking cool kat? Bringing news or just come to say hello?'

'Hey Leopard. Is Optimus around? I need to talk to him, it's urgent.'

'I think he was down in the science labs with Centinox; something about building a communicator.'

'And that is?'

'Down the hall, first right, last door on the right.'

'Thanks Leopard!' She pulled one of her small red and white spheres off her belt and the Pokémon with her disappeared in a white glow with a low _Arrrrc _like squawk.

Leopard watched her race down the hall at top speed before coming to a split second decision and, switching the defence systems on auto, got up to follow. Whatever this was, it must be important.

Primal looked away from Centinox, Rattrap and the device they were fiddling with when the door opened. It took him a moment to realise the entrant was smaller than the rest of his crew and he smiled as he looked down at their native friend.

'Is there something we can help you with White?'

'No, but there is something we could help you with. We just got a call from Professor Juniper's father, apparently a meteor just fell into the Twist Mountain Quarry, which is really close to where the Predacons supposedly landed.'

Centinox looked up from where he was working, surprise racing across his faceplate. 'So soon? I didn't think the guidance systems would activate that fast, it's only been eleven solar cycles since we crash-landed.'

White shrugged, 'I don't know how your technology works, just that one of your friends has arrived and is probably now in danger.'

'She's right Optimus, If de 'cons getta hold any of de pods den we're lookin' at hav'n ta fight our own crewmates.'

There was silence for several seconds as they waited for their leader to speak. Finally he turned to Rattrap.

'Rattrap, go get Dinobot, we'll need his knowledge of his ex-teammates.'

'Ya can't be serious! We can't trust old Choppa'face, he's a no good, backstabbin' Pred!'

The dragon-former glared at Rattrap and he couldn't help but recoil under the gaze of those ice cold optics.

'Enough Rattrap. Dinobot may have been a Predacon once but situations change and so far he has given us no reason for us not to trust him.'

'He ain't given us a reason ta trust him either.'

It took a moment before he wilted under his leaders gaze and, after transforming to Beast Mode, slunk away to find their newest crewmember.

As Centinox went to leave towards the Bridge, he was stopped by the young human girl who acted as their connection to the outside world.

'You're trying to build a communicator?'

'Trying about sums it up, yes. We're still trying to figure out how to get around the energon interference, without much luck.'

'Once we've picked up your new friend, remind me to give you my Xtransceiver, you should be able to figure out a solution from reverse engineering it. Just make sure to give it back in one piece and fully functional, 'cause I really don't need to replace another one.'

Dinobot and Centinox arrived roughly a cycle after everyone else. Once they were both settled around the centre console with everyone else, White hopped up on top and pulled something out of her bag.

'Ok now,' she spread it out across the metal surface, revealing it to be what appeared to be a map, 'So we're here,' she pointed to a forest area on the south-eastern side of the map, 'and your friend came down here,' She tapped a mountain over on the western side of the map, 'This is also the southern edge of predicted Predacon territory so they've got the advantage of distance. However, if we can get there before the Predacons find your friend then we've got the advantage 'cause I know the area rather well.'

'So wait, all we have to do is reach the area first and everything will be fine?' Leopard grinned, 'This is going to be easy!'

Optimus shook his head. 'Even if we get there first, there's still the chance that the Predacons will find it first. I don't doubt we'll have a fight on our hands either way. White, it's best if you remain behind for your own safety.'

'Na-uh, you need my help Optimus, none of you know the area like I do. If you're going to have any chance of getting to your friend first you're going to need my help. Arceus, you don't even know where the mountain even is!'

'We're wasting time! Every moment we waste here talking is another moment in which the Predacons could get the Protoform!' Dinobot growled stalking around the console and towards the lift down from the ship.

The Maximal leader sighed. 'Fine but the moment the Predacons show up you're getting out of there and out of the way. I will not have anyone else caught up in this mess Megatron has created.'

'I can take care of myself…' She muttered quietly to herself but nodded in agreement.

* * *

Since Optimus was the only Maximal capable of flight it was agreed that White's Tranquill would carry both her and Rattrap, that way even if the new Maximal was Centinox's size- something they highly doubted- the false Reshiram would be able to carry him or her back at least most of the way.

Because the Tranquill was not fully evolved (a concept that had greatly confused Rattrap) he was only capable of carrying one of them on his back, which left the engineer hanging from the large birds talons. The poor rat absolutely terrified of this situation, especially after their encounter with that other Trainers Unfezant, and was swearing rather profusely in Cybertronian as he struggled to not look down.

'Afraid of heights Rattrap?' White called down from her position on the birds back, merely smiling back when he glared up at her.

'Ah, shut it White.'

It was just as they were passing over the base of the mountain that a problem arose.

'_Ah, Optimus? Ah think our bird's more birdbrained den a Seeker, we're goin' sideways!'_

Their leader turned his scaly head to look over just in time to see the Tranquill veer away northwards- far off course and straight towards predicted Predacon territory. He twisted in mid-air and shot after them, ignoring his now frantic passengers.

His powerful wing beats meant that it only took them moments to catch-up and swing ahead of White's Pokémon. The Primal trapped the bird against his chest as he guided it down to the top of the crater. The moment there was ground close enough beneath them Rattrap had jumped off and scampered behind Primals' landing form.

White laughed as she dismounted, pulling the Tranquill back into his Pokéball before he could attempt to fly off again.

As the others dismounted, Optimus turned his attention to their ally.

'White, why did your Pokémon behave like that? The ones I've seen you work with so far have never had that problem before.'

'Tranquill is… well he's more of a temporary transport Pokémon then a member of my team. Since my Archen, Rocca isn't old enough yet to fly with passengers, I can't use her to get around Unova quickly. So I caught myself a Tranquill to work with until Rocca can learn to Fly.'

The Trainer sighed as they began to walk towards the top of the old quarry and down the side. 'To say the truth this is a common problem with any Pokémon a Trainer has only just started working with or not doesn't spend much time with; they don't fully trust the Trainer like a seasoned team does, so they can be difficult to work with.

And then there are other problems as well. When it comes to flying with passengers, most Pokémon prefer to find somewhere they know is safe to land then somewhere they'll be randomly attacked while trying to take care of a passenger. That's why Tranquill was heading north, she was going to the nearest known safe landing place; the Pokémon centre in Icirrus city.'

'Do you see were the stasis pod could have gone?' Centinox asked as she dropped onto one of the higher up platforms running around the outer edges of the quarry.

She gazed out across the honey comb of tunnels before pointing to a small one near the bottom.

'I don't think that one was here last time I passed through and I know the miners would have shut down any progress with the oncoming snow.'

'Then it seems we must dig out our fellow Maximal before the Predacons show their faceplates,' the mech was about to Transform when he was stopped by Centinox.

'_I'm picking up huge energon readings here; we'd end up in stasis-lock in less than a quarter-megacycle if we're not cautious.'_

He nodded before instead sliding down the steep slope, kicking up a small rockslide around his pedes as they scraped against the jagged walls of the edge. The others were close behind, helping create a loud racket that reverberated throughout the entire area and scaring away most of the nearby Pokémon- and if that didn't get the Predacon's attention then nothing would.

White continued to watch them from her vantage point until they reached the bottom, turning she raced over to the nearest tunnel. They would no doubt need her help when the time came so the closer she was the better when the Predacons decided to show up. Besides, she wanted to see what they looked like- for future reference purposes of course.

She raced down the tunnel, hanging a right and racing down a staircase cut into the rock. Good thing the racket the Maximals were making out there had scared off most the Pokémon or she'd be currently wading through waves to wild Pokémon, there was a reason why only stronger and well equip Trainers were allowed to make the journey through these tunnels after all.

And she just _had_ to Jinx it, for as she ducked around a large rock in her haste she ran straight into a large furry form, knocking her back onto her butt. For a moment she was still, staring in shock at a massive set of white furry legs that had seemingly appeared right in front of her. Slowly her gaze moved up and up and she gasped as she locked eyes with the Pokémon in front of her, grey against blue. The massive Beartic let out a low growl and pounced…

* * *

Optimus Primal was the first to reach the entrance to the small cave and he peered into the gloomy depths, seeking out the stasis pod buried within.

'_I see it. Dinobot, Rattrap- get in there and see if you can pull it out, but be careful; it may be damaged.'_

He shifted out of the way, allowing the two Maximals to slip in and grab the pod. Heaving with all the strength of their Beast Modes they were slowly able to pull the pod free from the mass of rocks piled up on top of it, sending them crashing down further into the honeycomb of tunnels twisting their way through the mountain.

They had only just reached the entrance when Leopard called out a warning. 'Optimus! Incoming!'

The Maximal was barely able to throw himself out of the way as a blast of electrical energy slammed into the rack face behind where he had previously been standing.

Optimus turned, looking back in the direction the blast had come from.

'_Megatron. I was wondering when we'd finally meet._'

'_Ah, Maximals. We were wondering when you'd leave your little... hiding spot, shall we say. Yesssss._'

Standing up on one of the wooden platforms running around the wall of the old quarry was three Predacons, with two more hovering overhead. At least, Primal thought they were Predacons as only one of them was out of Beast Mode. It was this one that held his attention. It seemed that White had been telling the truth when she had said Reshiram and Zekrom were once one and the same Pokémon. The similarities between him and the Black Predacon standing above them was uncanny, it was almost as if he was looking at his twin spark.

The mech was of the exact same build as him, but with black plating instead of white. The only other visible difference was his helm and the massive set of wings spanning his back, which were obviously designed to work purely as wings instead of wing-arms like his own.

Of course, he thought to himself, of all the Predacons, it just _had_ to be Megatron who got his Beast Modes counterpart. This reminded him way to much of the old stories from the Great War, when Optimus Prime and Megatron; so similar in strength and power fought one on one every time they battled on earth, neither able to beat the other without the assistance of other Autobots and Decepticons.

The other Predacons were all quite a bit smaller than their leader. To his left stood and brown, thin and ultimately prehistoric looking Pokémon. Its head was long and flat, reminding him somewhat of a Hammerhead Sharks, its whole body was long and pointy with spikes running down its back. The overall menacing picture was capped off with two massive metal scythes in the place of hands which the Predacon swung periodically back and forth as it waited.

The one to his right was even more of an oddity. Its whole body appeared to be wrapped in some sort of blue cloth while its head was hidden beneath a massive pink and green snail shell.

Then there were the two fliers. One looked rather similar to some sort of prehistoric bird with its brightly coloured feathers and reptilian head. The other was tiny, barely bigger then Rattrap and seemed almost too… cute and cheerful to be a Predacon. It was black, white and yellow and seemed to be based off of a flying fox. He watched it for a moment as, instead of flying, it bounced on the air currents spiralling up from the mine, seemingly incapable of holding itself aloft.

He refocused his attention on his lookalike.

'_We don't have to do this Megatron; there has been peace between the Maximals and Predacons for Centri-vorns, why start this war again?_'

'_There may have been peace on your side Maximal scum, yes. But permit me to inform you that an enemy that appears to be peaceful may in fact be merely... biding its time. We Predacons have merely been waiting for the right… opportunity to strike!_'

He fired again; a blue bolt shot from his cannon and slammed into the rock wall over Primal's head.

The other Predacons took this as their cue and attacked.

'_Terrorsaur, Terrorise! Raaaaak!_'

'_Ssstatiiiglide, Terrrroriiissse!_'

'_Scorponok! Terrorise!_'

The two fliers and the Predacon to Megatron's left transformed and attacked. Another powerful blast from Megatron's cannon missed Optimus by micrometres; causing a small landslide when it hit the rocks behind him.

The rocks crashed down, almost burying Leopard and blocked off the entrance to the small tunnel, trapping Rattrap and Dinobot inside.

'_Rattrap!_' Centinox shouted as he dived to the side, ducking to avoid a bolt of electricity from the hovering Predacon, who was quite obviously - now that he was no longer in Beast Mode- jerking and spazing from side to side in the air as electrical energy raced across his outer frame- seemingly doing no harm to him as it went.

'_No!_' The Primal roared as he turned to glare at the black Predacon. His roar caught the attention of everyone one on the battlefield who turned to look just as Optimus unleashed a massive stream of yellow plasma from his throat straight at Megatron.

The new Zekrom just smirked and didn't bother to dodge- he had discovered that his armour was now fire-proof in a battle against a group of the local organics the previous solarcycle. His smirk vanished and he stumbled backwards as the flame smashed into his chest. Waves of agony unlike anything he had ever experienced before battered his processor as he tried to shield his spark from the attack.

After what felt like Megacycles (but in reality was only a few nanocycles) the attack stopped and he slumped down into a shallow entrance in the quarry wall to recuperate, leaving one last command: '_Well, don't just stand there! Destroy the Maximals!_'

He leaned back against the wall and offlined his optics as the sounds of battle resumed outside. Hopefully his crew could supply him with a few cycles for his self-repair systems to do their work and then he could do what he had come to do; steal that stasis pod and hopefully deactivate a few Maximals in the process.

Leopard found himself up against the ground based Predacon, the one who was all pointy edges and sharp claws. He darted forwards at speeds he didn't even know we was capable of and raked his claws along the armour plates, darting away from one of the brown bot's sharp scythe. A quick glance at the area he had struck revealed a distinct lack of damage. Basic attacks wouldn't work here.

The Predacon laughed. '_Catbot weak. Scorponok rip catbot apart! Megatron will be pleased with Scorponok!_'

Again he tried to slice a piece out of Leopard who stepped back and out of the way, remembering all too well what had happened last time he had gotten into a battle on this organic planet.

It was one of the reasons he had gone to White for help. In the week since they had met her he had not been idle, learning about type strengths and weaknesses and how to pull off different attacks and later modifying them for use with his barbed whip.

It was time to try one of the more tricky ones he decided, ducking under a stray bolt of electricity he shot forwards. Scorponok was ready for him and managed to nick his flank as he passed, cutting into the armour and barely missing an energon line. Ignoring the damage messages and the slight sting in his side he spun around, using his excess momentum to help dig his claws in deeper. A nanocycle before his claws struck he activated one of his attacks, his claws becoming coated in dark purple energy as they slashed the Predacon's outer armour.

Scorponok howled in pain as the claws sunk deep into the plating, ripping and shredding before they were yanked out as Leopard finished skidding backwards.

'_How do ya like me now Predacon?!_' He taunted as he took off, leaving the Predacon kneeling in pain as he raced towards were Centinox was pinned down.

The two fliers had teamed up; the smaller of the two pinning the Maximal scientist down while his friend blasted away at his cover. He aimed for the former.

Staticglide buzzed in surprise as he was suddenly knocked out of the air and the bolt of energy he had been just about to unleash went sideways; hitting the blocked entrance to the tunnel and knocking several of the larger rocks away.

He jerked back and forth, trying to throw off his unwanted passenger and Leopard was forced to bite down to hold himself in place. It only took Staticglide a few moments to give up and he stilled as he began to concentrate.

'_Huh?_' Leopard let go with his jaw, looking down at the hoverbot in confusion before screaming as he was shocked off his opponent's back. Raw electrical energy raging havoc on his internals until he collapsed a moment later, falling off the Predacon's back he hit the ground with a loud crash and screech of metal and rolled slightly; disappearing behind a rock.

Primal was in the midst of trying to find wherever Megatron had vanished to while attempting to dodge a series of fast thrown attacks from the final member of the Predacon team- who had yet to transform, seemingly preferring to fight in his Beast Mode. This one was apparently a smart one to have figured out the energon problem in this mountain, or perhaps he just had better scanners then his teammates, either way it didn't matter.

'_Aaaaaaaaah!'_

He was distracted from his fight at the sound of Leopards scream; his crew didn't seem to be doing too well on their own.

He shot off one last powerful blast, which like all the others was easily dodged, however this one was slightly different and exploded as it hit the ground behind the speed based Predacon, sending him flying forwards and off the small ledge he had only just jumped to.

Primal was already gone, lifting into the air with one powerful thrust of his wings as he attacked the flier pinning down Centinox, allowing him to go help Leopard.

* * *

Megatron stepped out of tunnel, back in Beast Mode, after several cycles; his self-repair having taken care of the worst of the damage. He reset his optics several times at the sight that greeted him.

Terrorsaur was down for the count; a massive hole burned into one of his Beast Modes wings. The other three were pinned down by continuous fire from Primal and another Maximal he didn't recognise, the fallen stasis pod on the ground behind them, his scientist already working on reprogramming it. The other two Maximals were nowhere in sight.

But that wasn't what had surprised him. No, what had frozen him with shock was the sight of his ex-second in command, online and functioning, working his way towards the rest of his Predacons.

He grinned. Yesss, it seemed the battle was going in his favour, now all he had to do was stall them until the new Predacon was ready.

'_Well, it seems things have gone rather badly for you Primal, yessss. But not surprising considering no Maximal was ever build for combat._' He called out, gaining their attention and subsequently decreasing their constant barrage of energy, allowing Dinobot to finally each the rest of the Predacons.

'_You won't get that protoform Megaton. We will_ _stop __you!_'

'_Too late for that Maximal. It's a shame really, I was hoping to deactivate a Maximal before the solar cycle ended. But I'll have to settle for the look on your faceplate when your old teammate rips one of you apart at my command. Yessss._'

'What in the name of Arceus is going on here?'

The helms of every Cybertronian present and online turned to look at the newcomer to their battle (even Centinox's poked up over the rock he was working behind). Standing up on a platform above them was a human, and not just any human…

'White! Get out of here, it's too dangerous!'

'No Optimus, it's not. At least, not with what I've found.'

A second form stepped out of the tunnel behind her. A large bear with white fur and massive claws, easily as large as Centinox's Beast Mode, stepped up beside her. Its claws, each the size of a human short sword slowly flexed as it peered down at the strange beings below.

'You know, what makes this mountain so special is that it is the only natural place in Unova that is home to ice type Pokémon all year round. In fact Beartic are the local Apex predators. But what makes them so special is that they are one of the few Pokémon that even Master Trainers avoid. Mainly because you don't want to tick one off, _ever_.'

She stepped back out of the way. 'Congratulations Predacons, you've managed to tick off old Iceclaw here, big time.' She grinned, 'Iceclaw, Frost Breath the big black dragon!'

The Beartic dropped down to the same level as Megatron, landing with an earthshaking thud next to him. Before the faux-Zekrom could react the ice bear was already slashing out with its claws, a steady stream of ice crystals slipping from its mouth towards the Predacon leader.

Megatron reached out and grabbed the Beartic's arms, stopping it from ripping into him but trapping both of them in a wrestling match as they tried to overpower each other.

'Go Iceclaw! Beat that dragon into the ground, come on!' She laughed. 'Or even better… Iceclaw, Icicle crash that sucker!'

Iceclaw let out a roar in agreement and with a mighty heave, pushed Megatron back out of reach. The Predacon stumbled as the Pokémon also stepped back, leaving a short gap between them. Then it slashed out with its claws, quite obviously there was no way the attack would hit but, after a moment it became obvious it didn't need to.

As the Beartic slashed forwards a number of ice crystals, each one bigger than their wielders head formed and fired off at Megatron one by one.

Megatron was unable to see the incoming attack, his sight obscured by the ice cloud hovering around him, slipping into the cracks and gouges in his armour and solidifying deep in his transformation seams. Not only was it incredibly painful but he was finding it harder and harder to move.

So of course the ice spears caught him by complete surprise. Though most missed or glanced off of his thick armour, leaving nothing more than deep scratches and scrapes, one managed to puncture straight through and into an energon line.

For the first time in his lifecycle he was leaking, actually leaking, and rather badly at that.

Though he would never admit it to anyone later on, at that moment he realised it was possible he was going to deactivate. Right here and now. Like many of the local organics this beast was far stronger then any other organic the Cybertronian race had ever encountered before.

He didn't want to be terminated. He refused to be terminated!

As the giant bear stepped back even further, ready for his next attack, Megatron's attention was once again drawn to the tiny little human above them and out of the way of the battle.

'Yeah! Keep it up Iceclaw! One more hit and he's down for the count and out!'

The human was right… but maybe he could use this to his advantage. Yesss.

He made as if to charge his opponent and pretended to stumble after a single step, charging his cannon to fire; a move left unseen by his minor deception.

The Beartic took the bait and charged. It was met by a face full of electricity and stumbled back, dazed.

The faux-Zekrom was about to follow up and finish off this annoying organic for daring to attack him when his second called up to him.

'_Megatron, we have the stasis pod. I… suggest we leave before the Maximals can attempt to steal it back_.'

'_Yes, an excellent idea Dinobot.' _He took off and swooped down to where the three grounder Predacons were holdup, trapped by a continuous stream of firepower that had only increased in intensity in the last cycle.

He snatched up the pod and paused for a moment to allow the grounders to climb onto his back, something he would normally never allow, but considering the landscape of the battlefield, they would be hard pressed to retreat on their own. No need to give the Maximals any form of advantage after all. No.

And of course it had nothing to do with the temporary loss of his second in command. Nothing at all.

Speaking of his second… Megatron noticed he hadn't joined the other two on his. Their optics looked for a split second and Dinobot fluttered his stubby wings in reply. According to him, he was now capable of flight. After the dramatic changes his scientist and the smaller of his Predacons had gone through, such a fact really didn't surprise him anymore- just another thing to add to the ever growing list of craziness induced by this planet.

He took off, prompting Staticglide to grab his air buddy and follow. Megatron couldn't help but throw in the last word as he rose over the lip of the quarry.

'Oh d_on't worry Primal, we'll take good care of your ex-crewmate and you'll see them again next time we meet. The Predacon's will deactivate or reprogram every last member of your crew and then we'll take back Cybertron in the name of the original Megatron! Yessss.'_

He frowned as he watched the human's pet pin down Dinobot before he could take off. Oh well, his second could handle himself. It wasn't like the Maximals would terminate him after all, they were too soft-sparked.

He would enjoy turning the protoform against the Maximals. Yesss.

* * *

Rattrap stomped his way over to where White's Pokémon was holding down a slightly irritated Dinobot- who had stopped struggling the moment Megatron was out of sight.

'Ah knew it! Ah knew we couldn't trust this stinkin' Pred! 'e let Megatron get da stasis pod!'

Leopard just glared.

'Iceclaw…' White stepped up next to her Pokémon, her face blank. '…Let him go.'

'What! Ya can't be serious White! 'e just gave da Predacon's da stasis pod!'

'By my orders. And in doing so, he saved the life of the Maximal inside.'

'White…' the word came out as a low growl, Optimus was not happy.

'Just listen ok? I'll explain everything.' The Trainer closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

'While you guys were getting the pod, I went searching through the surrounding tunnels to make sure the Predacons wouldn't try to sneak up on you from the sides. It was there I met Iceclaw. At first I believed he was just another wild Pokémon and attempted to capture him, it wasn't until my Pokédex registered him that I realised he wasn't.' She grinned. 'Optimus, I would like to meet Iceclaw, the Maximal that was inside that pod thing of yours.'

As if to fother prove White's point, Iceclaw activated his transformation sequence, copying what he had seen the 'others like him' do earlier. His Beast Mode was apparently a similar shape to his robot mode, as his transformation was for the most part merely the disconnecting and subspacing of his outer armour, only a few parts remained as a part of his robot mode's armour plating- including his Beast Mode's head. His claws shifted up his servos, becoming a part of his servo guards, the largest two locking into place on his elbow joints. His armour was a pale blue- nearly white, while his protoform was a light shade of aqua.

Dull grey optics locked onto Optimus's bright blue and Iceclaw shifted slightly, almost unnoticeably infront of White, the bot was tense; ready, Primal noticed, to protect and defend their organic ally at a moments notice from even them.

Silence filled the quarry for several moments.

Optimus was the first to speak, though he was very clearly surprised by the unexpected turn this battle had taken. 'Welcome to the Maximals Iceclaw, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Optimus Primal, the leader of the Maximals on this planet.'

The newest Maximal let out a low bark, 'yes, White told me we are a race of alien Pokémon. She has been explaining a lot of things to me during the short time we've been together, though not much is making sense yet. If it wasn't for her I'd still be working off raw instincts, as it is, I am still finding everything so confusing and strange.'

'You not remember before?' Leopard piped up, struggling to force the English words around the snout of his Beast Mode (seriously, how did Rattrap make it look so easy?), as he lay partially curled up on one of the rocks, his tail flicking idly as he kept one optic locked on the sky.

'No, I believe several of my systems are glitched, there are several error messages that are continuously popping up again and again, I am unsure what they mean.'

Centinox frowned as he transformed and stepped forwards, running several scans on Iceclaw as he walked over. 'I'll need to check your systams over thoroughly when we return to the Axalon.'

'Yes, and if it's ok, Optimus Primal, I would prefer to remain with White for a while, until my systems are fixed, she is the only one I feel can keep me, and everyone else nearby, safe.'

'Ey, hang on a monocycle! Sure e's allright and not a Pred or anythin' but Choppa'face still gave up da pod believin' dere was a protoform inside! We can't trust 'im!'

'Except he knew it was empty.'

'How? If he could tell then the Predacons…' Centinox trailed off as he returned to wielding a gash in his armour shut. It seemed he had a weakness to some of Terrorsaur's attacks as well.

'Had no clue. Just before we left I lent him one of Professor Juniper's spare Xtransceivers so I would have a connection to the rest of you if something went wrong, I didn't get a chance to tell you though what with all the excitement going on. But we used it to create a plan when I figured out that the Maximal you were looking for was with me instead of down here.'

'With the new Maximal in danger, I acted the only way I could without threating anyone's…. termination.' He glared at the ground, 'It was dishonourable of me to do so.'

'But necessary, you saved Iceclaw from Megatron's- at least I'm assuming that was Megatron- electrical attacks.'

'So, how long do you think it's gonna take for old Megsy to figure out the stasis pods empty?' Leopard, having decided the Predacons were not coming back, had transformed and was now sitting on the rock, his stabilizers hanging over the edge.

Somehow, White's smile managed to get even larger. 'Oh, I think he'll figure it out shortly...'

* * *

Megatron glared at the empty stasis pod in front of him like it was at fault for everything. Ninjulas, the closest thing they had to a scientist had slipped away the moment the pod had been revealed to be empty.

How? How had those pit-spawned Maximals slipped away with the protoform unnoticed? HOW?! It didn't make sense, the stasis pod had definitely registered a spark signature; so where was the spark! Two of his mechs were in the CR pools, one with major damage, and another had been captured by the Maximals. And for what? An empty stasis pod.

Oh he was going to enjoy ripping apart those soft-sparked, sorry excuses for scrap. One by one, starting with their little organic pet and her fragged up- what had she called it?- Beartic. Yes, he would definitely enjoy that.

* * *

Authors Notes:

Please note that I haven't watched the Beast Wars episode Fallen Comrades in over a year and a half so I'm slightly unsure about what exactly happened in canon.

As has probably become obvious, several of the characters are out of character to varying extents. This has been done on purpose as with the change in situation, addition of characters and the most hostile environment of The Pokémon world in comparison to Primitive Earth, it is impossible for the characters to remain with the exact personality they had during the Beast Wars. White is a major factor in this and is already having a significant impact on the Maximals.

And as now can be seen, the death of White's Stoutland plays a significant role in this story as it allows White to take on Iceclaw (Aka, Tigatron) as the sixth member of her team. It also does several others things but they're for later in the story. Please note that here anyone could possibly die at any point in this story, death is something that _will_ be repeatedly touched upon.

Thankyou for all your wonderful reviews. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be done as I'm only 500 words into it, but I'll do my best to have it done in two weeks!

~EclipseSeeker


	6. Interlude

_So I uploaded two 'chapters' in one day again, though technically this is more of an extra then an actual chapter. The new chapter is the previous chapter so go read that first._

_It was suggested to me that I give a list of Maximals and Predacons with names and Beast Modes to make things less confusing to everyone. In the end I decided to write up a short Bio on each of the Major characters to have made an appearance so far. At the end of a chapter introducing a new Maximal or Predacon I will add a short Bio for them in the Authors Notes. So this is a version of the info sheet I created to write this story. Sorry for not making things clearer sooner._

Optimus Primal: His Beast Mode is that of the legendary Pokémon Reshiram, which is rather fitting of his general nature and beliefs, though it would better suit his ancestor; Optimus Prime. He is one of the few Maximals and Predacons who didn't change his designation upon arrival to the Pokémon world; though, like his counterpart, it was more for sentimental reasons then practicality. His left arm is a cannon which he uses as a mimic for all of Reshiram's special attacks.

Centinox (Rhinox): Despite been a scientist and the closest thing to a medic in amongst the base crew of the Axalon, Nox was always far calmer and slow paced (though it is rumoured he inherited the temper of his Creator). Because of this the Beast Mode of a Scolipede seemed perfect for him at first glance, though at first he preferred to call it a giant Centipede rather than its proper species name, leading to much confusion on White's behalf. He has twin multi-round blasters that fire poisoned spikes.

Leopard (Cheetor): Originally designated Spottor, gaining the Beast Mode of a Liepard saw to the need of a designation change. Though he loves the speed and agility of his new alt, the reputation it has left him with leaves much to be desired, considering it would suit Rattrap far better than himself. He can control dark type attacks through the barbed head of his whip (which is also his Beast Mode's tail).

Rattrap: A self-acclaimed Jack of all Trades, Rattletrap was taken on as a last cycle replacement engineer for the Axalon, which just makes him hate this new situation even more. Since the first attack on his crewmates, Rattrap has become increasingly distrustful on anyone new, making good use of his Beast Mode (a Watchog) and its dexterous paws to continue inventing parts and repairing the Axalon with anything he can find so they can 'hurry up and get off of dis stinkin' planet'. His Beast Mode's tail doubles as a plasma rifle.

Dinobot: Named after the greatest Autobot warriors, Dinobot was brought up as the creation of gladiators to follow the rules and codes of honourable combat to the point where his whole function revolves around it. His Beast Mode, a Druddigon, fits almost perfectly with his more savage nature, giving him a vastly intimidating form well designed for battle. He specialises in combat with sword and shield which also double as his wings and tail in Beast Mode.

Iceclaw (Tigatron): Having woken up from his stasis pod severely glitched and with no memory data of his previous life, White's 'capture' of him during battle has earned her his respect and trust, something any of the Maximals have yet to truly earn. Traveling with and spending time with White as a part of her team keeps him close to the Maximals while still satisfying his instinct protocols. While his Beast Mode seems to fit with his more wild nature, Iceclaw seems to have nothing in common with real Beartics. His mastery of ice allows him to create his own temporary weapons, his preference is daggers.

White: The only native to have gained the trust of the Maximals, despite her position as a Pokémon Trainer. She serves as a link between the Axalon crew and the native population. She is especially close to Leopard, finding him the most approachable of all of the Maximals. Since her journey started she has lost two of her Pokémon, the first been her very first Pokémon who she had only known for a few days at the time and who had been killed by a pair of Team Plasma Grunts at the Dreamyard, making her slightly paranoid about the safety of her teammates. She relies on her Pokémon to protect her.

Megatron: Originally known as Magmatron, he was inspired by the original Megatron to rise up and place the Decepticons as the true rulers of Cybertron. It was this ideal that lead to the creation of his Predacon crew and eventually to this entire situation. After learning about the legend behind his Beast Mode he decided that he fit the persona of Zekrom perfectly, much to the dismay of his underlings. His right arm is a cannon which mimics Zekrom's special attacks.

Scorponok: Though on the outside he may appear to be rather dumb, Scorponok is actually rather smart, though nowhere near Ninjulas's level. Instead he is blindly loyal to Megatron, almost to the point of obsession. His Beast Mode is a bit of an oddity as, been that of a Kabutops, it is the only non-Unovan Pokémon any Maximal or Predacon has taken on so far, its DNA been easily enough found in the depths of Twist Mountain in the form of fossils. His Beast Modes blade arms can transform into actual scythes though he prefers to use his shoulder mounted water cannon.

Ninjulas (Tarantulas): Originally known as Tarantulas for his expertise in cybervenom and slight spider-like appearance. In becoming an Accelgor he has lost his natural access to his supplies of cybervenom but in return became the fastest of all Cybertronians on the Pokémon world. As his new designation suggests his speed makes him appear almost like a ninja in battle. Not even Megatron knows what weapons he uses.

Terrorsaur: As a descendant of Starscream's trine, Terrorsaur is immensely proud of his position as one of the fastest Seekers on Cybertron. This makes him highly jealous of Megatron as the only flyer on the Pokémon world faster than him. The well-known special ability of all Archeops, the 'Defeatist' ability appears to fit his personality perfectly, an irony that only White fully understands and can truly appreciate. His reformat has given his a mastery over the manipulation of air currents, just like any flying type Pokémon, in addition to his arm blasters.

Staticglide [pronounced stat-ee-glide] (Waspinator): Wasp was sparked with a vocalisation glitch in his processor, something that nothing short of a processor replacement could fix (a practice that hasn't been in use since before the great war). Since his base form was that of a copterbot before his reformat into a Beast-moder; Staticglide, in Beast Mode is a better flyer than any other Emolga as he is able to say in the air for far longer periods of time. The glitch however seems to be worse. He is electrokinetic.

_Thankyou_ _Timeless Dreamer Neo for giving me the suggestion, it was highly appreciated and don't worry, I'm not planning to follow the Beast Wars timeline to that extent. This is not Earth but an entirely different planet with its own unique structure and timeline, so many parts and even episodes of the Beast Wars series are impossible to play out here. Instead this story will take advantage of a whole range of new points and ideas made available in the Pokémon universe._

_~EclipseSeeker_


	7. Out in the Open

Chapter 6

Out in the Open

* * *

Leopard darted away from the trail of plasma shots, skidding across the road. He closely followed by the faint 'ting' of flying chips of stone. He transformed and leapt backwards, locking optics with his opponent and throwing him a grin.

'Hah! They don't call me a speed demon for nothing!'

'Day don't call ya dat in da first place!' Rattrap shot back as he took aim with his rifle and fired again, hitting nothing but the ground with rounds of plasma.

'Well you're still too slow to hit _me_ ratface!'

White was sitting at the entrance to the Nacrene Museum, enjoying the shade provided by Centinox's bulk, the scientist been too busy reading from one of the many books he had borrowed from inside to notice.

Even though she appeared to be completely relaxed, White was keeping a close eye on the sparring match going on in front of her. After all, she _was_ supposed to be teaching these two the basics of Pokémon battles, though she had to admit this wasn't really working quite the way she had planned.

'Ok, that's enough!' The two Maximals reverted to Beast Mode and turned to look at her as she got up.

'I think it would be best if I gave a demonstration first, especially since neither of you seem to be taking this seriously.'

'Ey! We're doin' our best 'ere!'

'But evidently not good enough,' she motioned for them to step out of the makeshift sparring area and, ignoring the crowd gathered around the edge of the road like a flock of Pidove, she released two of her more experienced Pokémon; Rocca, her Archen and Xena, her Darmanitan.

She waited a few moments before addressing her teammates. 'Rocca, Xena, training match. One on one, no super effective moves. Begin!'

The giant red gorilla charged at her sparring partner the moment the word left her Trainers lips, trying to catch her opponent by surprise- her specialty in battle, the sooner you took down your opponent, the less damage you take, and Darmanitans were specially known for causing themselves massive amounts of damage during a battle so it was important to get things done as quickly as possible.

Rocca on the other hand, been an Archen, was specially known for her more cowardly attitude, especially after taking a decent amount of damage- though she was nowhere near as bad as some of the others of her species. White had trained her specifically to focus more on dodging attacks then attacking herself; a tactic almost unheard of in the Trainer world but in this case it worked well, it was a good surprise tactic.

So only White and Xena were not taken by surprise when the prehistoric bird relinquished her opportunity to strike at her opponent, instead shooting straight up into the air; using an odd hop-flap technique to force herself up over her sparring partner's body, despite her inability to fly.

Xena whirled around, striking out before the Archen had even touched the ground.

Leopard watched on opened mouth in awe at the battle in front of him… no, it was more like a dance then an actual battle, it reminded him somewhat of the old gladiatorial matches on Cybertron before they had been banned under the treaty act between Maximals and Predacons (one could only watch them on the vid systems now), what he saw in front of him was so similar… but far less messy.

Rocca leapfrogged over Xena's back, her claws digging past the fur in a quick but weak slash attack, only to be sent flying the moment she touched the ground. The bird hit the ground and rolled, stopping at the feet of several onlookers. It took her a few moments to heave herself to her feet, but once there she fell into a guarded position, watching her opponent warily.

For exactly twenty-eight monocycles, according to Leopards internal chronometer, neither combatant moved. Then, at a speed that almost no organic could follow, Rocca shot forward and slammed into her larger opponent- her speed alone enabling her to knock down the Darmanitan. The two forms slammed into the stone bricks- Rocca been on top of the fire ape- recovered first and bit down on Xena's arm, hard.

Xena, conceding defeat, did not get back up until Rocca had gotten off, accepting the Archen as the victor.

Leopard turned to the human next to him- she was one of the Trainers White had introduced Rattrap and him to the first time they had come here- the one with the blonde fur, he realised. He tapped his tail against her arm to get her attention.

'Normal for fights?' He motioned to the two Pokémon with his tail to try and get his question across. She seemed to understand.

'Oh! Yes, but only with more experienced Pokémon and only when their more evenly matched. If White had allowed Super effective moves, White's Archen', she pointed to the prehistoric-looking bird, 'would have beaten her Darmanitan ', she pointed to the giant red gorilla White was checking for injures, 'almost instantly because the Archen has a type advantage over the Darmanitan.'

Leopard was about to ask what she meant by type advantages when his attention was pulled back to the centre of the circle by a bright white glow. His optic shutters shot open in shock as he watched White's Archen seemingly fragment and come apart, throwing out massive amounts of energy in the form of light. The Archen's form was lost in the bright glow which seemed to expand momentarily before fading in a final burst of energy.

It took several moments for his optics to recalibrate but, once his optics had readjusted to the lower light levels, he found himself gaping in shock at the sight of White's Pokémon. The Archen, if it could be called an Archen any more, had grown twice in size. Its neck had extended, long and serpentine, a mass introduction of green into the blue and yellow feathers, pushing out the red colouring in both scales and feathers. Gone were the stubby arms that promised the possibility of flight someday, that promise now wholeheartedly fulfilled.

It was an impressive sight; here was a true predator- an Apex predator in its own right, the first he had really seen on this planet (not counting their Beast Modes). But there was something about it… familiar…

The bird, Rocca let out a long, triumphant _Arrrrrrrrrrc!_ Its wings spread wide, and everything clicked into place. He stepped back as it came to him, something White had told them when she had offered to train them two Solarcycles ago, when they had only just arrived back from their first battle with the Predacons.

_Look, it's my fault they're as powerful as they are; the least I can do is teach you how to fight in Beast Mode…_

He could now see what she had meant. Rocca had been the base scanned for the DNA structure of Terrorsaur's Beast Mode.

* * *

Centinox was on a completely different train of thought. The sight he had just witnessed should be impossible, he knew organics, thought he knew them. To his knowledge, organics grew and changed slowly, over time. Anything fast would kill them; they couldn't survive a fast physical change. The closest comparison he had to what he had just witnessed was a Cybertronian frame upgrade as the spark matured, and even that wasn't nearly that _fast_. Yet another impossibility somehow made possible on this planet.

The Maximal Science Society was going to have a field day (to borrow a human term) with this planet once he reported his findings upon return to Cybertron. _If _he reported his findings… if they ever made it back to Cybertron; it was starting to look like a very real possibility that they were stuck on this planet, the Native life nowhere near developing space flight, let alone been able to help them fix their ship.

He jotted down the question on the data pad next to him in neat Cybertronian, below several others, questions to ask White later on, away from the prying ears of other Trainers. They were still trying to keep some level of secrecy after all, even if Primal was willing to take page after page out of his ancestors book (to borrow another human term- one that only half made sense) and reveal themselves to the native race as 'the good guys' to gain their support. Though nothing was ever quite so clear cut, as Centinox had learned all to well once- a long time ago.

It was maddeningly slow, this form of research. This planet was even more primitive then first-contact Earth in many ways. It was understandable; no two planets can ever truly be compared to each other when it comes to technology. These Trainers might not have a widespread use of vehicular transport or a worldwide easily accessible database like Earth, but that was more because their technology was designed it fit around their unique lifestyle; they didn't need many forms of technology to do the work for them, they had Pokémon to pull it off instead.

Didn't make his research any quicker or easier though, but it wasn't his right to interfere with this worlds development just to make his life easier, even if they were already interfering by giving these people a range of now useless components and circuitry to reverse-engineer. There was just so much they needed to learn; common battle tactics, type-advantages, move sets, and that was just the basics of Pokémon battles, the things most Trainers knew of by heart by the age of 11 stellarcycles.

It was certainly a daunting process, Centinox was only glad he had White to help him work his processor around these copious amounts of data.

As he focused back onto the book he was currently working his way through, shifting slightly to try and get comfortable in his position next to the entrance to the museum, his sub processors couldn't help but make a connection to the grass-type Pokémon they had encountered in Pinwheel forest and its reaction to the oddly coloured lump of energon. Perhaps there _was_ a scientific explanation behind this madness. Maybe.

* * *

'_Are you sure about this Primal? I cannot guarantee your… safety if we reveal our position to the Predacons. Megatron will have no problem… exploiting the weakened position of our base once it's… location is compromised._'

Optimus smiled, his gaze locked onto to the rooftops that were just barely poking up over the tree line a short distance away.

'_Your concern is appreciated Dinobot. But, no doubt the local population already knows of our presence in the area, it is unlikely the others would have remained in their Beast Modes for long._'

'_I still don't see the point in this! We are risking ourselves unnecessarily with this venture!_'

'_Dinobot, do you know why the Autobots won the Great War?_' The two Maximals had stopped walking altogether and Optimus focused his attention on the smaller dragon.

'_Because the Decepticon command was rife with treachery and cowardliness, they lacked the coordination and honour of the Autobots._'

'_We were always taught it was because of the Autobot's alliance with the Humans that allowed them the advantage, easy access to Earth's resources and the humans acting as extra eyes and ears in return for protection. We were taught that they were the factor that helped turn a long lived stalemate into a victory._'

'_You're trying to replicate that advantage…_'

'_These Trainers and their Pokémon are powerful beings, they are capable of defeating, possibly even killing, a Cybertronian with relative ease, at least, the more experienced Trainers are. You were not there when we had our first run in with a Trainer, merely minutes after scanning a Beast Mode. He was almost as experienced as White, and took the others down with ease. If he had been stronger… the Predacons would have won by default. It is that strength that we are looking for in order to survive and defeat Megatron._'

Dinobot nodded and started walking towards the nearby city, sensors on full alert, just because he agreed with the Maximal commander, didn't mean he was going to let his guard down, if anything he would keep a closer optic on the unknown Trainers, it was the best he could without outright disobeying his commander.

They finally reached the edge of the tree line and after a moment's pause; they stepped out between two buildings and onto the road leading to the museum.

The reaction was almost immediate gasps of surprise and shock and fast but quiet whispering as the crowd took notice of the new arrivals. But to Dinobots surprise, there was no fear in these people gazes. Just seemingly endless waves of wonder and awe, all completely focused on Optimus. It seemed this race- these Trainers- were less fearful of that which they did not understand then humans had supposedly been, or far more stupid. That to was a possibility.

'Reshiram! Dinobot! Over here!'

The crowd parted, allowing the two through. It was like the underground fight pits, Dinobot noted as he passed through the mass of organics- not all of them bipedal- and into the centre of a ring, a massive blood thirsty crowd here to watch others try to kill each other for entertainment; an environment in which he had thrived in back on Cybertron, and one he had sought to escape as soon as a better opportunity arose.

In the centre of the ring, Leopard was fighting what appeared to be a small flying fish- borne aloft by crackling energy- with great enthusiasm, despite his inability to hit his opponent. While, off to one side, Rattrap was teaching Iceclaw how to fight in his robot mode- with very little success. It seemed this new Maximal didn't have any weapons, or at least wasn't using any, as he seemed more focused on squashing the smaller Maximal into scrap then an actual fighting technique.

However, his attention was quickly drawn to the entrance of the museum and the presence of two figures, the smaller of the two waved them over.

'Glad you two could make it after all, in fact I could really use your help at the moment.' White glanced over to the two battles. 'I think Leopard keeps trying to turn this into a game. Unless that's normal for your kind.'

Dinobot let out a snort which she guessed meant no before turning around and walking over to the others, barking out instructions in Cybertronian. Primal watched him go, and then turned back to the others two.

'Centinox, progress report.'

The giant centipede sighed in frustration.

'_Badly, most of this information doesn't make sense, even with White's explanations. The idea of an entire culture focused purely on nonlethal combat is confusing and the sheer range and variety of life on this planet is beyond anything we've ever encountered before, and that's only counting the known Pokémon species. There's estimated to be at least several hundred more that haven't been discovered yet, each region is known to have almost two hundred different species, many considered unique to their home region and that only covers roughly ten per cent of this planets landmass. It's a daunting process to even think of trying to learn the basics._'

'_Have you found a solution for our communication problems in Beast Mode?_'

'_No, but I'm working on fixing our communicators to work around the energon interference. Once installed, we should be able to communicate from anywhere within the region, but the connection isn't secure. The locals won't be able to listen in if we speak in Cybertronian but I'm more worried about the Predacons. Sensitive information will not be safe._'

'Hey, uh… so I was thinking, once Iceclaw learned some basics, we'll probably be heading off elsewhere.' White butted in, her voice unusually quiet.

Optimus whipped his head around in surprise; that was one thing he hadn't expected to hear from his small friend.

'Why?' Had something happened? He was pretty sure organics rarely went far from the safety of home. Was that the reason why? That her home was somewhere else and she needed to return?

'Well, um… how do I explain this?' White sat down next to Centinox, deep in thought. 'In our culture, it is common practice for a child to leave home and go on an adventure across their region with a team of Pokémon, it's our way of proving that we're mature enough to face the hardships of the world around us and allows us the opportunity to create a strong connection with the world of Pokémon. There's no set age for when a Trainer starts their journey but most start at the age of fifteen because of how long the journey can take.

'We use a badge system, were upon defeating a recognised master a Trainer is gifted the masters corresponding badge. The more badges a Trainer has, the more competent a Trainer they are, as each badge is progressively harder to obtain, introducing handicaps and restrictions to make it harder on the challenger. Many jobs and Professions require a certain number of badges to take on, as well as skill and knowledge and- upon gaining eight badges- a Trainer can take on the local Pokémon league to try and become a Master. Pokémon battling is one of the biggest parts of our culture.'

'You trying to do this?'

White nodded, 'it's my goal to become a Pokémon Master, yes. But my main priority right now is stopping Team Plasma.'

'Team Plasma?' This didn't sound good Centinox decided; an enemy of Whites could quickly turn into an enemy of their own.

'They're uh… a group…' White tailed off and stared at the ground, refusing to look at the two Maximals, they waited patiently in silence for her to continue.

After several moments she simply sighed. 'About a year ago a group appeared here in Unova, I have no idea where they came from but they broke up a small time Pokémon snatching ring and returned the Pokémon to their Trainers. The next day their all over the Pokénet claiming that Pokémon all over Unova were been abused and mistreated by their Trainers and calling for the removal of Pokémon from bad Trainers. Within weeks several gangs hand been shut down and Trainers were returning home from their Pokémon Journeys, their Pokémon taken from them by Team Plasma.'

'They don't sound bad…'

'It got worse. Six months ago, when I first started my Journey, something changed- or none of us had noticed until then- but members of Team Plasma started attacking weak Trainers and stealing their Pokémon for no reason, the first time I properly came across some of their Grunts, I had to stop them from beating up a defenceless wild baby Pokémon. From there it just escalated. The robberies, the battles, the lies. The only reason I still have my team is because I was strong enough to fight them off several times. They've been calling for my arrest ever since my first Pokémon was killed.'

'Your Stoutland?' Centinox guessed.

Primal bowed his head in shame; it was his fault White had lost her old friend, oldest team member- something he was beginning to understand meant the loss of a powerful connection within this culture- if what he had heard from Leopard was correct. Was he also the case for their Trainer friends hardships against this Team Plasma?

White choked and took several deep, shuddering breaths before attempting to continue, her words coming out in a rush. 'No. No, this was several months ago… the first time I battled against Team Plasma; I had only just gotten my first badge. When I saw two Team Plasma Grunts attacking a wild Pokémon, it was just a little baby, but they were kicking it, again and again. I couldn't let them do that, so I attacked them. I got cocky, I only had two Pokémon at the time, Maddie- who was only a little Lillipup and my first Pokémon- and a young Snivy called Herb. But I attacked anyway, completely forgetting how weak and uncoordinated we were. I just wanted to protect the little Munna… But their Purrloins… they… they…'

She buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed. The Training battles stopped one by one as the Maximals and White's Pokémon turned together to see what was wrong. Seeing that the battles were finished, the crowd dispersed, most not even noticing the sobbing form held tightly against Optimus's chestplates as he tried to comfort their ally. Finally White began to speak again, her voice barely above a whisper, but Centinox and Optimus easily heard every word.

'They ripped Herb apart with their claws… the Grunts laughed, cheered them on- they were heartless. There was almost nothing left of her by the time I realised something was wrong. By the time Bianca caught up, the Grunts were already running off. Next thing I know Team Plasma is accusing me of deliberately killing one of my Pokémon, it was only Bianca's testimony and that word of Professor Juniper that stopped my Trainers Licence from been revoked. I've been trying to stop them ever since, to save as many Pokémon as possible from them. It's believed that no Pokémon is truly evil, it's the Trainer that moulds how a Pokémon acts and reacts in battle.'

She pulled herself out of Optimus's grasp, moving to the floating fish she made him vanish in a flash of red light. Another thing Centinox was going to have to ask her about when she was in a better mood. She then began to walk off, Iceclaw moving after her.

She turned as he finally caught up and waved goodbye. 'Hey, I'll see you guys' later. ' she called as they walked around the large red roofed building further down the street, vanishing from sight.

The Maximals looked between each other in bewilderment, mainly because they had missed the majority of the conversation.

'_So uh, Bossbot, what was that all about?_' Leopard turned his gaze from the spot where White had vanished from sight to the faux-Reshiram, he- as always- was incredibly curious.

'_Perhaps it would be best if you asked White about it later. Maximals! Return to base! I believe we're done here._'

Sending one final glance in what he thought was White's general direction, Leopard raced after the retreating forms of his teammates.

* * *

'_Are you sure it's down there Centinox?_'

'_Nowhere else it could be Optimus, scanners indicate a large quantity of raw energon, more than enough to completely refill our stores._'

The Maximals, with the help of White's friend; Cheren, had set up a makeshift pulley system at the edge of the eastern river. Rattrap and Dinobot had stumbled across a large mass of raw energon sitting innocently and completely unnoticed at the bottom of the riverbed (the two had refused to explain _how_ they had found it but Primal suspected it had something to do with the fact that Rattrap had arrived back at the Axalon thoroughly soaked. Centinox was still analysing the nasty looking- and quite obviously dead- water-type Pokémon that had fallen out of his subspace on the bridge).

'_Why do ah have ta be da one fishing dis thing out?_' Rattrap had decided that he 100% hated water with a passion, how could the organics love this stuff? The liquid slipped through any possible gaps in his armour and seemed to love wreaking havoc on his circuitry.

'_Because, Vermin, you're the only one who knows where the raw energon is…located._'

'_Yeh, and whose fault is dat Lizard lips?_'

'_Enough! Rattrap, you did a good job discovering the energon, now we need you to find it again. Our stocks are too low to just ignore it._'

'_Besides, the removal of such a large chunk should decrease the level of energon radiation in the area somewhat._' Centinox had not come with them, opting to stay behind to continue working on the mess of circuitry that was the remains of the Xtransceiver White had given Dinobot, something he was rather glad he didn't have to give back- he wasn't even sure he could put it back in one piece, at least not the way it was originally built. He was using the comm. links to stay in touch with the rest of them, though the energon inference was making any communication staticy at best.

'Hey! Ah foun' somethin'!'

Cheren looked up from the final adjustments he was making to the pulley system, noting the Watchog's location several metres out and a fair way upstream.

'Reshiram, If you would please? I don't think my Pokémon are strong enough to lift It.' he gestured to the wood and metal contraption sitting near the edge of the river, pushing his glasses firmly back into place as he spoke.

Optimus nodded and walked over, carefully he lifted Cheren's hard work, working his way up over to Rattrap's location.

Cheren was about to follow when he was stopped by a Pokémon who looked almost identical to his own Liepard. Leopard transformed and looked down at Cheren worriedly.

'Hey um, Cheren, have you seen White recently? She hasn't shown up for the last few days.'

'White left two days ago, said something about going for her eighth badge. I would have left myself but there's been reports of an unknown Pokémon wandering round the north-eastern parts of Pinwheel forest that Juniper wanted me to investigate.'

'Do you know where she went?'

'Considering where we started from, the only badge she wouldn't have yet is the Legend Badge, one of the worst ones to save for last, so she'll be in Opelucid city within a week or two if she walks.'

'Oh… will she be ok?'

'If she can train Iceclaw well enough beforehand, something I don't doubt she's capable of, then she'll have a powerful type advantage against the Gym.'

Leopard opened his mouth to ask another question only to be interrupted by surges of energy through his frame. With a snarl of annoyance he muttered '_Beast Mode_' and slipped down into his alt mode. Cheren could only blink in surprise as the faux-Liepard turned around and walked off; apparently their conversation was over.

He was distracted from his thoughts as the pulley groaned under a massive weight, he hurried over to the rest of the Maximals to make sure everything was working ok, and stopped in his tracks as they heaved the biggest water stone he had ever seen- half the size of Reshiram- out of the river.

'Is that…'

'Energon, the life blood of our race.' Reshiram couldn't help but smile at the sight. Finally things were looking up for his crew.

* * *

Authors Notes:

When it comes to Evolving my Pokémon I often end up favouring a Pokémon in battle when its close to evolving, I can imagine many Trainers would do something like this as well.

I believe that this is the last we'll see of White for a few chapters, I hadn't actually planned for her to run off quite so soon by sometimes the story runs away with you. On a good note: Energon! I'm not completely sure how I want this concept to work on the Pokémon world but this is a good start.

I almost didn't get this chapter out this week, I've had so much crap going on in my life at the moment, I fear I won't be able to get the next one for another 3-4 weeks considering how long it is. I'll do my best.

Thankyou to those precious few who reviewed. as of now this story is currently the sixth most popular Beast Wars fanfic on this site. Perhaps we you make it to fifth by the time I post the next chapter? I only need at least 7 more favourites.

~EclipseSeeker


	8. Falling from the Sky

Chapter 7

Falling from the Sky

* * *

Orbiting a small organic planet in the depths of space- completely unknown to the Cybertronian race at large- was twenty-three stasis pods, floating in amongst the planets natural debris field. They had remained mostly unnoticed for almost three months now, only one activating and plunging towards the planet below.

Just as the line of pods was beginning a pass within the radius of the predicted decent area towards the designated landing point, one of the stasis pods picked up a summoning beacon from the planet below and began to shift towards forwards as it prepared to make planet fall. Its thrusters fired as it attempted to pilot its way through the mass of drifting rocks that made up the planets natural debris field.

The on-board AI was simplistic, merely designed to navigate a safe passage down to the location of the ships beacon, and as such it had only ever been designed to complete one task at a time. As it focused on navigating around a particularly fast moving lump of rock, the pods scanners failed to pick up the presence of the stasis pod next to it.

The two pods collided, ripping chunks of shielding and circuitry out of each other as they were both knocked out of orbit and down towards the planet below, the heat of atmospheric entry melting and fusing delicate components together into an unrecognisable pile of scrap.

And still the two Protoforms within slumbered on, their sparks completely unaware of the danger they were in…

* * *

White looked up at the night sky as she and her Pokémon settled down to sleep after a long day of walking in a circle of rocks, sheltered from the possibility of a sandstorm. She had made the most idiotic of newbie mistakes, trying to get to her destination as quickly as possible and she was now paying for it. They had gotten caught out in the desert on Route 4 in their hurry to reach Nimbasa by night fall.

Her Pokémon were spread out around the campfire Xena had made, enjoying the warmth provided, Iceclaw staying especially close to her.

After all the time she had spent around the Maximals she had stopped seeing them as Pokémon to an extent, they certainly didn't act anything like the beings they were trying to disguise themselves as. So she found it strange to see Iceclaw act so much like one. Sometimes he seemed more like an overly intelligent Beartic then a Maximal, this wasn't helped by the fact that he preferred to stay in Beast Mode and rarely spoke in this form.

She still couldn't help but wonder if her hurried departure had been a good idea; talking to Optimus and Centinox about her early days as a Trainer had reminded her of everything that had happened between her and N (who she didn't blame for the loss of Herb, even if he was the so called 'king' of Team Plasma) and how she needed to get back on track as quickly as possible. She had fallen so far behind… she needed to be ready to challenge N and stop him from defeating and destroying the Unovan League when he finally made his move.

To her it was like a giant line of dominoes, the first piece been the disbanding of the Unovan League, the final been the destruction of their entire culture; so integrated with Pokémon that nothing would survive such a separation. To her it was obvious that Team Plasma could not be allowed to succeed at any cost.

In the end she was lucky, at least she still had her Pokémon, at least she had been able to recover from such a loss so early on; most Trainers never got over the loss of a partner, and now she had lost two- her oldest. The closest to her heart, and still she managed to keep going.

Iceclaw reached out and wrapped a large paw around her, pulling her close to keep her warm from the chilly night air. She snuggled down into his thick fur and returned her gaze to the sky, just in time to see two meteors enter the atmosphere, starting close together they separated as they hit the lower atmosphere, one falling to the west- a fair way away from here. The other… it was falling towards Pinwheel forest, she guessed.

'So, two more Maximals come down. It'll be interesting to meet them when we get back…'

Iceclaw grunted, pulling her tighter as he glared in the direction of one of the meteors-that-were-probably-stasis-pods. She had no idea what was going through his head but hopefully any bad thoughts about the Maximals would have defused by the time they returned, though by then she hoped she would have already defeated the elite four and Team Plasma once and for all, perhaps even be a Pokémon Master, though that was a bit of a hopeful dream at this point…

* * *

The Axalon's alarms were suddenly switched on by the ships sensors, startling everyone out of recharge and causing Centinox, who had been on monitor duty at the time, to jump in surprise. He almost dropped the scanner he had been attempting to repair and modify using the energon dampeners reverse engineered from the remains of the spare Xtransceiver.

He carefully set the half-built machine aside and began checking the monitors for whatever had set them off. Were they under attack?

Optimus burst into the room just as Centinox shut off the alarm, a rare smile spread across his face.

'_Centinox, report. What's wrong._' Seeing his smile their leader added '_Did something good happen?'_

'_We've got a stasis pod incoming, predicted landing site Route 3. It seems the beacon we set up in top of Wellspring hill worked._'

Optimus smiled as well '_another of our brothers or sisters saved from enslavement by the Predacons_'

'_And another Maximal to add to our ranks, something we sorely need in this battle against the Predacons_' came a growl from the entryway.

'_Look who's talkin' Choppa'face!_'

'_Shut it Rattrap._' Optimus focused his attention on the two Maximals at the entrance to the bridge. '_Dinobot, if the new Maximal doesn't want to fight then we will not force them. None of us were built for war and they will no doubt be disorientated and confused, if they need time to adjust then we'll give it to them. No one will be forced to do anything._'

'_Of course Optimus Primal, forgive my… imprudence._'

'_Forgiven,_' Leopard had finally arrived and looked around curiously; Centinox quickly filled him in as the others transformed to Beast Mode, '_Maximals, move out!_'

* * *

In the dark of night a number of forms slipped through Nacrene city. Heralded by the bright glow of different coloured optics and followed closely by the sound of slow, steady wing beats, they remained unnoticed by the sleeping residents of the settlement.

They ended up having to split up off the paths that wound their way across Route 3, each taking a different section of the route and surrounding areas while Optimus flew overhead. They didn't trust the accuracy of the Axalon's scanners, not with the sheer levels of energon radiation in the area around the ship- sometimes it was a constant battle just to keep the shielding working.

Rattrap found himself up near the nursery that was set up just north of Striaton City. He ducked under the slide as he scanned for the tell-tale gleam of metal or the unique energy given off by a spark, though the latter was far less likely to be picked up.

Ducking around the back of one of the buildings, his audio sensors picked up the sound of a flock of Pidove, only these sounded agitated. Could it be?

He passed through the trees quietly, following the faint coos of the small pesky birds until he chanced across a clearing about a half-click north of the entrance to Wellspring cave. His vents stalled as he took in the sight before him. The great furrow in the ground, the fallen trees, the pieces of scrapped metal spread across the churned up ground…

He transformed and activated the Xtransceiver that had been built into his left arm, praying to Primus that it worked outside of the Axalon shields.

'_Centinox, dis is Rattrap, can ya hear meh?_'

'_Loud and clear, have you found the stasis pod?_'

'_Half-click north 'a Wellsprin' hill, get'ya aft over 'ere. NOW!_'

He switched off his end of the comm. link and jumped down into the crater, already looking to see what he could do to keep the Protoform from deactivating.

* * *

Centinox's faceplate paled the moment he stepped into the clearing as he took in the sheer _mess_ left behind by the pods landing.

Leopard was working his way around the clearing, checking if any of the components that had been ripped off the pod were still functional while Rattrap worked furiously to solder and reconnect broken wiring as quickly as possible, ignoring the occasional spark flickering across his plating- he would need to return to Beast Mode any monocycle now.

He transformed and dropped down next to the inventor, taking his place in fixing the pod. Rattrap immediately took the opportunity to return to Beast Mode and collapsed on the ground, checking his paws for damage.

Optimus, who was standing guard near the edge of the clearing with Dinobot, stepped forwards and peered down at the others.

'_Will the Protoform survive?_'

'_If we had found it any later then I would say no, but the spark is still strong .Optimus, as soon as the pod's systems are stable I need you to fly the stasis pod back to the Axalon. We need to get it under the safety of the shields before the spark is destroyed by an energy overload; the stasis pod's shields aren't as strong as our Beast Mode's._'

Optimus nodded and settled down to wait.

'_That's the last of it!_' Leopard called as he carefully dropped a circuit board on top of the small pile Rattrap was working on repairing.

'_Rattrap, do you have a dampener over there?_'

'_Nah, it's all sola' converters and liquefier circuitry over 'ere._'

'_Scrap. Leopard, do you remember the basic field repairs I taught you?_'

'_Yeh! Course I do Docbot, why?_'

'_I need you to rewield the plating back on over there and there_' he indicated several sections where he had already finished working before burying his helm back in the worst of the damaged areas.

'_Is something wrong Centinox?_'

'_Without that dampener the pods shields are barely at fifty-six percent, the Protoform only has a cycle at most before the energon radiation begins to damage it. We have three cycles before the damage becomes permanent._'

Rattrap swore and jumped to his feet, running over help.

Optimus found himself watching on, unable to do anything to help his teammates; he turned to see Dinobot pacing, his teeth pulled back in a snarl.

'_Dinobot, do you think you could herd some Pokémon our way in case we need to pull off an emergency reformat?_' He asked, recognising the warriors need to do _something_.

Dinobot nodded and raced off back onto the route. He had noticed that for some reason, Pokémon loved to gather in the long grasses along the edges of each route and area rather than away from Trainers all together. It was stupid of them but he had no reason to complain, it made his hunt far easier.

He found himself crouching just behind the tree line, watching a particularly thick patch of long grass. Noting a pack of creatures similar to Rattrap's Beast Mode and a small black and white horse, he moved around the edge until they were between him and the pod and leaped out of his hiding place with a roar. Just as he had expected, the young Pokémon raced off in panic in the opposite direction to the supposed predator, heading in the general direction of the others.

He snorted and moved on. There was nothing else here and a few more would probably be a good thing, at the very least it would give him something to do without the Vermin glancing suspiciously at him every few monocycles like he was about to attack them at any second. Not that he blamed the rat; he was still a Predacon at spark and always would be. He just refused to follow Megatron's command, that's all.

* * *

Centinox stepped back from the side of the pod, moving towards the main control panel. Primal looked up from where he had been resting, at their leaders inquisitive gaze Centinox merely grunted.

'_That's everything we can do, let's just hope the pod can successfully scan a Beast Mode._'

He activated the scanners, the others watching on as a small probe slipped out of the side of the pod and unfolded into what looked like a miniature satellite dish. The dish slowly spun around, the yellow light of the scanners passing through the nearby area- bathing the area a sickly yellow.

* * *

Dinobot paused and looked up as the light washed over him before speeding up his pace, they'd had to do an emergency reformat after all, which meant his task was well and truly finished.

He arrived back just in time to see the pod open with a loud hiss. Optimus stepped forwards beside Centinox as he monitored the condition of the Protoform. Dinobot stepped up next to Leopard, his focus entirely on the pod and the Protoform slowly stirring within.

A hand shot out after several moments, grasping the side of the pod it heaved the rest of the Maximal's frame out. The femme rolled over the side and sprawled out on the ground, not used to her limbs yet.

She stared up at the forms around, her yellow optics darting from one form to the next in confusion before finally settling on Centinox, the only one out of Beast Mode. The scientist knelt down next to her, running several scans to make sure she was completely functional.

It wasn't hard for Primal to figure out who she was. The feathers covering her outer armour, the bird-beaked helmet with feathers stretching out behind and the set of seeker wings reaching up over her shoulder guards… There had only been one femme seeker on the Axalon.

'_Wing Saber, it is good to see you arrived in one piece._'

She turned to look at the giant white reptilian, that voice sounded familiar…

'_Wing Saber? My designation is Airazor; at least, I think it is…_' she frowned as she scanned through her databanks, finding them empty of any memory clips. She didn't have a designation, but Airazor sounded much better then Wing Saber- shorter, quicker to shout out on a battle field...

He dipped his head in response. '_Of course, apologies Airazor. Perhaps it would be best if we returned to the Axalon? I believe there is much to be discussed and information to be shared, there is much you'll need to know about this planet for it is not a peaceful one._'

* * *

Ninjulas slipped between to large chunks of energon, crackling with so much energy they were floating in mid-air, as he manoeuvred as quickly as possible through dimly lit tunnels and caves. This was a dangerous place, too dangerous to even be properly mined. He needed to find the stasis pod he had seen come down here fast; before the raw energon damaged it beyond use.

He was lucky none of the other Predacons had seen it come down, that he had been the one on monitor duty at the time; dull and tedious as it was. He was lucky for his speed, this was the first time since they had crash landed on this planet that he was actually happy with his reformat, he might have lost a number of his abilities but he had gained this incredible speed in return- said speed that had allowed him to get all the way out here to this energon rich cave system within half a megacycle, faster then even Terrorsaur could have possibly achieved.

The pod would have only landed a few cycles ago; there was still time to save the Protoform inside… if he could just _find_ the Primus damned thing.

There! He leaped off the path he had been following and slipped down a rocky slope, all the way down to the stasis pod where it was lying, half buried at the bottom. He got to work as quickly as possible, using the wain light filtering down from a hole in the roof. Not just replacing the faction chip but adding several little additions of his own, even though he was highly pressed for time. This Protoform was going to be just what he needed to complete his goal, if he could get it to online in the first place.

He managed to fix the alt-mode scanner enough for a short range scan and monitored the pods systems as it got to work, making sure the energon radiation hadn't done too much damage.

The moment the new Predacon- a femme of all things- pulled herself out of the pod he leaped on her, jabbing a cluster of wires on her back to force her into Beast Mode.

The giant yellow and blue spider (and oh how he wished that was _his_ Beast Mode) reared back, interpreting his actions as an attack.

'_Calm down femme! I wasn't trying to hurt you._'

She stared at him, her new programming suppling her with information. '_Ninjulas._'

'_Yes. Now come, this area's too unstable and dangerous for a Cybertronian. Keh heh heh, Megatron will be __**pleased **with my find_.'

The new Predacon ignored her companions' ramblings. She had too much to think about herself. Something wasn't right; her mind was a jumble of separate codes that warred merrily between each other, ignorant of the processor ache they were giving her. She followed the newest lines of code to their source and, after an immense struggle with her own firewalls, deleted them.

She glanced at her companion with fresh optics, recognising that the changes he had made to her systems. He was the enemy, but also the closest thing to an ally she had. She would have to play on the down low and allow him to believe she was still under his control; it was the only way she would survive this planet if the information he had given her was correct. She doubted it all was.

* * *

Authors Notes:

Soooo… this was definitely finished far faster than I had expected, don't think that will happen very often and don't expect the next chapter until near the end of September, maybe later. My life just keeps getting considerably busier.

Though in part this update came this quickly because this chapter was rather simple to write. When going over the episodes pertaining to this chapter I realised that both were more focused on battles with the Predacons then the arrival of the two new characters themselves. As I couldn't really pull of a major battle between the Maximals and the Predacons in this situation I improvised. This is the result.

While looking up Airazor's design I came across some rather interesting backstory so I added it in, the only other Cybertronian I've found with any form of backstory in the Beast Wars was Dinobot, and that was dealing more with the thievery of the golden disk than anything else so I just had to add it in.

Speaking of backstory, I came across the canon theory behind the creation of the Maximals and Predacons, it states that Maximals and Predacons begin to appear and fight alongside Autobots and Decepticons (though no actual details of how are known) and they eventually became the more prominent factions, eclipsing Autobots and Decepticons before eventually ending the war after the deactivations of the last of the Autobot and Decepticon elders. I don't think I will be following this theory; I prefer my idea of the Maximals and Predacons been descended from the original Autobots and Decepticons after the war had ended as was repeatedly hinted at throughout Beast Wars and Beast Machines.

As an apology for kicking White temporarily out of the story line a chapter early, I've given her a short section of her own. And Bronzewidow's introduction ended up just as short as in was in canon as Blackarachnia. Oops.

And as promised, here's some more basic information pertaining to this stories version of the Maximals and Predacons.

Airazor: Wing Saber was originally the commander of the Chromia 10, leading them in the protection of organics from Predacon forces. She separated from her team to help chase down the Darksyde but got caught in the middle of the fight between the Darksyde and the Axalon just before they entered a transwarp tunnel. Her spark was transferred over to a blank protoform by Optimus Primal as her ship was destroyed, partially wiping her memory core. Not recognising her original designation she now responds to Airazor. Her good eyesight, gifted to her by her Unfezant Beast Mode makes her an excellent sharpshooter with the twin plasma guns hidden in her wrists.

Bronzewidow (Blackarachnia): Her memory core was completely wiped by Ninjulas, leaving her with no knowledge of who she once was, a blank in all sense of the word, though a rushed reformat has caused her to retain much of her Maximal coding. Her Galvantula Beast Mode has left her with similar abilities to a spider and her electric attacks are known to carry minute amounts of cybervenom.

~EclipseSeeker


	9. There are always Thieves

Chapter 8

There are always Thieves

* * *

Under the cover of night a form moved through the trees, slinking from shadow to shadow. Glowing green eyes were the only thing to give it away so it ducked its head and kept close to the ground for cover, its tail slowly shifting from side to side just above the grass. It leaped up onto a fallen log and stretched out to its full height as it scanned the surrounding area.

Yes. Leopard had to admit as he surveyed from his perch. Tonight was a quiet one.

The planets moon was only half full and had dipped low to the horizon, making the world beneath the foliage of Pinwheel Forest a near dark one. Most of the Pokémon who inhabited the area were long gone, leaving him alone to his thoughts.

It was times like this that he could truly imagine he was somewhere else. Not on Cybertron; their homeworld was too different, made almost entirely of metal and rock. But somewhere else. Another, safer organic world, like where they were _supposed_ to be right now. Stupid Predacons.

He had signed up as the pilot, and an extra technician. The only person on board he had actually known was Optimus, an old family friend. He hadn't signed up for this; been trapped on an alien world with no way home, under attack from both the native life and rouge Predacons- both capable of killing him with ease.

It wasn't fair! But hadn't the humans once said that life isn't fair?

Besides, if none of this had happened, he would have never met White, would have never been able to train with Dinobot… would have believed everything they had told him about Predacons (Which he could now see wasn't entirely true). And oh how that hurt.

He shook his head; he needed to return to the Axalon, he had been up for almost a full solar cycle now and desperately needed a defrag.

He leaped down from the log and traced his way back to their ship. It was only three klicks away, not far by Cybertronian standards.

Still, by the time the exploration ship was in sight. Leopard was ready to drop. He called down the lift and clambered on, sprawling onto his belly in exhaustion.

The cat-bot heaved himself to his pedes as the lift shuddered to a stop, noting the presence of several other Maximals.

'Hey Optimus! Where you all going at this megacycle? The sun isn't even up yet.'

'Dinobot is heading out on patrol. I was going to investigate some odd readings from an island to the south. Centinox?'

'Meeting up with Cheren. With White gone he's our best source of information.'

Optimus nodded before throwing a quick scan over the youngest member of their crew. 'Go get some rest Leopard; you look like you need it.'

He just nodded and left, too tired to even bother to transform until he reached his room. He was out the moment he was on his berth.

* * *

Rattrap jumped, distracted from his electronic version of Poker as the proximity alarms went off. A quick check of the ships chronometer proved it couldn't be any of the other Maximals; it was too early for Dinobot to finish his patrol, Optimus and Centinox wouldn't be back until evening at the earliest and both Leopard and Airazor were still in defrag. So who was outside the ship?

He switched the screens to the cameras they had attached to the outer hull and flipped between them, looking for unusual shapes and movement. It was still relatively dark; dawn was still a good megacycle away, so it was difficult to see much beyond the slight shifting of the shadows created by the surrounding trees.

There didn't appear to be anything out there but this was the time of the solarcycle in which the camera systems couldn't be trusted, the lighting at its worst as the world around them prepared for dawn. It was also the time when both diurnal and nocturnal Pokémon were out and about at the same time.

He flicked through the cameras a second time before settling back with a quiet vent. He hated been on this shift of monitor duty, it was the one best known for false alarms after all. Rattraps optics flickered as a message popped up on his internal scanners; he needed to begin defrag, preferably within the next megacycle or so.

He vented again and returned to his game, missing the sound of metal ripping and tearing from near the back of the ship. After all, there were two forests, at least one mountain and several towns and cities between them and the Predacons so it wasn't like they had anything to worry about out here in the heart of Pinwheel forest as long as they avoided the more powerful wild Pokémon…

* * *

Airazor's systems pulled her out of defrag as her sensors registered the sounds of tearing metal. She leaped up off the berth, her weapon systems automatically powering up and she paused, frowning at the lines of battle code running through her systems. That wasn't normal…

The sound of something banging against metal snapped her back to awareness and she moved towards the doors to her room, several systems she didn't even know she had powering up: battle systems. Hadn't she heard Primal mention once that she had originally been designed as a war build?

Sensors primed to the max, she opened her door and peaked out. Several doors down the hall a hole had been ripped through the hull and she watched as several small black and white forms dropped through. Were these Trainers? She had never actually seen one up close before- Primal been more focused on perfecting flight techniques in her new Beast Mode to let her go with the others into Nacrene for practice with the local Trainer population.

But what were they doing on board the Axalon? She ducked back into her room and, after a bit of fumbling with the unfamiliar system, activated her Xtransceiver.

'_This is Airazor calling any and all Maximals, can anyone hear me?_'

'_Primus Airazor! Don't startle meh like dat!_'

'_Apologies Rattrap, but we have intruders in the quarters corridor, I'm guessing their Trainers. From what I can see they've ripped a hole through the outer hull._'

They were interrupted by a third connection, it was Centinox.

'_I've tried to connect Dinobot but he doesn't seem to be responding and both Optimus and I are too far away, you're on your own for now. Centinox out._'

His face disappeared from the view screen as quickly as it had arrived and Airazor cut her own connection, the Xtransceiver transforming back into her forearm and out of sight.

She was on her own for the moment. With that thought she leaped out into the corridor and turned the face the opening, wrist blasters up and ready to fire.

Something smashed into the back of her helm she fell to the ground with a crash, her optics offlining as she hit the ground.

* * *

When Leopard exited defrag, he expected to see the light grey walls of his room with their smattering of Cybertronian posters and images of Pokémon. Instead he was greeted by smooth dull grey metal walls. He jumped up of the metal floor of the cage and shoved his head against the bars that lined one side of the cage.

As far as he could tell he was in some sort of warehouse filled with countless other cages, most of which appeared to hold Pokémon of all types. He couldn't recognise most but from those he did identify he guessed none of them were really 'common' Pokémon.

It wasn't hard to figure out why he was here; whoever had botnapped him were Pokénappers, stealing and capturing harder to get wild Pokémon and selling them off to the highest bidder. He let out a whine; this was not good, _really_ not good.

'_Leopard! Is that you?_'

A voice called out from the next cage over and he shoved himself even harder against the bars, trying to get a look at his fellow Maximal. He managed to get a good enough look at the faux-Unfezant to see a wing wrapped tightly against her side; she was hurt.

'_Airazor, are you alright? Where are we?!_'

'_Not sure pussy cat, but I'm guessin' nowhere good._' Rattraps voice called from higher up, sounding rather distracted. '_Gimme a minute and I'll get us a betta look 'round._'

Leopard sunk down to the floor of the cage, listening intently to the faint _skritch-click_ coming from Rattraps general direction, it eventually ended with a solid 'thunk' and a shout of '_finally_' before the small Maximal dropped down in front of Airazor's cage and knelt down, carefully examining the lock.

'_Hopefully dis won't take long too long ta open…_'

He was interrupted from any further analysis by the sound of voices. Someone was coming.

'_Rattrap, get out of here. Find the others and get help!_' Airazor hissed through the bars.

'_Heh, ya don't have ta tell me twice! I'm outta 'ere!_'

He vanished from Leopard's sight, leaving them with nothing more than the quiet sound of scampering feet.

Leopard settled down to wait. After all, it wasn't like Rattrap would just leave them here. Would he?

* * *

'So, why are these two here? I thought we were only transferring semi-rare Pokémon out of Unova.'

'Hmmm, according to this, they're supposedly some of the rarest Pokémon out there. Only a dozen of this lot in the world, at least according to the Unovan Pokémon Researchers. They're also really powerful from what I've heard; they'll go for a high price once we figure out how to get them out of their disguises.'

'What, like a Ditto or a Zorua?'

The two men had stopped in front of the cages holding Leopard and Airazor and one of them crouched down to get a good look at the former. The faux-Liepard hissed and pulled back, causing the man to chuckle. He reached out again only to be stopped by his partner.

'Hey, come on, we've got to check out the rest of this lot before the boss starts bringing through the regulars.'

Leopard watched the two walk past with partially shuttered eyes before curling up as far away from the walls as possible. _Rattrap, please do something good for once and get help. Staying still like this for too long is the pit incarnate!_

He wasn't used to such small spaces, it hadn't been a problem on the Axalon because of his smaller size and here of the Pokémon world there was plenty of space to run and hunt in to satisfy his Beast Mode's instincts. But in here…

He slipped his head under his tail and wished for the world outside.

_I take back everything I said before, anything is better than this!_

* * *

He had been a Pokémon smuggler before the boarder laws had been introduced into Unova several years ago. Back then he had smuggled Pokémon from Hoenn into Johto and Kanto for a living but when he had discovered the massive and unique market of Unova with its border controls he had seen it as the perfect opportunity to expand.

As far as he knew, he was the only big time smuggler of Unovan Pokémon and it made him a fortune.

He was especially pleased with his latest find. Upon hearing the report of a new Pokémon species he had sent one of his men to investigate Pinwheel forest. Instead his employee had come back with something completely unexpected. The new Pokémon were far stronger then he could have ever imagined and there were so few of them. Oh the money he could make from even _one_ of these creatures…

The fact that he now had two in his possession was a pleasant surprise. But before he could sell them off he had to figure out how to get them to transform.

Which was where he was now, overlooking an underground battle ring. In the centre was the one disguised as a Liepard. The large cat was pacing back and forth, its head whipping in every direction, looking for possible danger- if they hadn't found it in the remains of the Alien Pokémon's ship he would have believed it was nothing more than an ordinary Liepard. Such a clever disguise.

He heard something move behind him but didn't react as another person, just as faceless as he was in the dark that shrouded the area, sat down beside him.

'I heard you had some new Pokémon to tempt me with.' Ah, one of his regulars. He recognised that voice all too well, even if he didn't have a name to put to it.

'Yes, I thought you would be interested in some rather _interesting_ Pokémon we picked up recently. Perhaps a demonstration?'

He pulled out a remote and activated the doors lining the walls of the arena, releasing a number of rare Pokémon. A number of wild Pokémon shot out of the cages they had been kept in; a Duosion instantly targeted an Axew while two Deinos ganged up on a Larvesta. But his eyes were locked solely on the pretender in the centre of the ring, who had found himself under attack from a rather nasty Rufflet. This would be an interesting battle to watch.

* * *

Leopard was scared. He had been scared when they had dragged him from the cage and away from Airazor, he had been scared when they had dumped him in this giant empty room and he had been scared when a number of Pokémon had been let loose in here with him. Suddenly the room hadn't seemed all that small after all.

He ducked under the talons of his opponent; a small blue and red bird with a massive white mane of feathers, and took off, dodging around several Pokémon before something slammed into his side, knocking him over.

Leopard rolled, pulling himself back to his pedes he settled into a battle stance White had taught him. Across from him was what appeared to be a Pansage, like one of the few he occasionally saw wandering around the forest, only this one was far larger then any Pansage he had ever seen before; more rugged and menacing, almost as if it had evolved. But that was impossible! He had seen really powerful Pansages, he had seen one take down a Scolipede once, if it was capable of Evolving then he would have seen the Evolution at some point during his many explorations!

Unless… Energon. It had to be the answer. One of the many different types of energon must have an effect on the Pansages which now left him in a rather difficult situation; evolved Pokémon were always far harder to take down.

It came at him and he was forced to duck under the swipe, remembering to keep his tail low and out of the way- he really didn't need a repeat of that first battle. He twisted around and bit down on the Grass Types legs, pumping energy through his fangs. The Pokémon screeched and brought down a fist on his head, jarring his processor.

He let go and stumbled back, trying to at least stay out of reach as his sensors reorientated themselves.

Something slammed into his side, almost knocking his off balance again and he saw a flash of white as it wheeled away. Damn, the bird was back.

Leopard had found himself in a rather difficult situation; he was stuck in a double battle with two Pokémon species he didn't recognise and no partner to back him up- it was a bad situation for any Trainer to be in, but he was on his own this time.

He only had one option left to him.

'_Leopard, MAXIMISE!_'

* * *

His current customers' attention was pulled from the pair of Deinos as a loud screech echoed across the arena, capturing the attention of every Pokémon within.

'What was that?' He was all too happy to point to the other side of the arena where an unusual sight was taking place.

The Maximal disguised as a Liepard was shedding it disguise to protect itself.

It was fascinating to watch the twist of body parts as the Maximal grew in size, taking on a humanoid form. Such a transformation should have been impossible or at the very least painful but the Pokémon pulled it off effortlessly. At least a head taller than a human, it towered over the pre-evolution Pokémon, scaring several of the weaker ones off. Truly a sight to behold.

'What in the name of Arceus _is_ that Pokémon?'

'That, my friend, is a Maximal. One of the newest Pokémon species to be discovered in Unova they come in all shapes and types, the only way to tell one apart from an ordinary Pokémon is if it transforms into its true form, which is what you see here.'

'So, like that Zorua you sold me a while back?'

'Yes, but unlike a Zorua they can only disguise themselves as one other Pokemon and can hold that form for as long as they want. There is nothing that can force them to unwillingly reveal themselves. Their true form is incredibly powerful, and the best part is that they are incredibly rare, only a dozen in existence!'

'Interesting, I suppose this is the only one you have access to?'

'No, I have another if you're interested.'

'Hmm, we'll see.'

'Don't wait too long, or I'll have to pass them onto another client, can't keep them around here forever after all.'

* * *

Leopard had no idea how long he had been here but it must have been a long time, his tanks were running low. The only way to pass the time here in these cages was to talk with Airazor and he had quickly found himself telling her tales of Cybertron. She had been fascinated by stories of the Great War, asking as many questions about it as she could- though he was unable to answer most of them, he didn't know too much about it himself. Never really been interested.

But now she was in defrag, leaving him to his thoughts.

Why was all of this happening to him? He was barely more than a youngling for Primus's sake! Why had they been picked to chase after Megatron? Why couldn't they have sent actual warriors after the Darksyde instead of a simple exploration ship? Why, why, WHY?

A shout echoed through the warehouse, followed by several loud bangs and a screech of metal. Leopard jumped to his feet as more shouts filled the air, accompanied by the cries of Pokémon. Was it Optimus? Had the rest of the Maximals finally arrived to save them?

The sounds of battle got closer until several men in blue and white tunics ran past, each with at least one Pokémon by his or her side, shouting orders to each other at a rapid pace- too fast for his translation programs to follow in his energon deprived state.

Some of them began checking the imprisoned Pokémon, calling for food and medical supplies. One of them opened his cage when they saw his wounds, rummaging through a bag which he guessed contained the spray bottles or herbs that he often saw White use during training. The moment he saw an oppertunity, Leopard took a chance and rushed out of the cage, shoving the man aside as he went.

The man let out a shout of surprise, catching the attention of the people around him. Leopard didn't care; he was already in front of Airazor's prison and ripping at the lock, trying to free his comrade. Airazor was awake, optics wide as she pulled back out of the way- there was nothing she could do from the inside to help.

'Hey! Hey! How did that Liepard get out! Somebody calm him down before he hurts someone!'

The faux-Liepard whirled around as the Trainers approached; dropping into a crouch he growled and lashed his tail out instinctually to keep them away.

'Trainers stay back. I free friend. Trainers go!' He growled, his systems were running entirely on foreign programs, ones that had not been there before their arrival on The Pokémon World, it frightened him.

His optics glowing almost white as he fought back against the array of unfamiliar lines of code, every circuit in his frame primed to attack, even as his processor fought back. This wasn't him, this was wrong!

'Get back! All of you! Get. Back. Now! Give the Liepard some room!' A new voice shouted out and the new Trainers retreated, letting a young man- roughly the same age as White- through. The teen was dressed in simple everyday clothes, bright green hair partially covered by a cap.

He slowly knelt down, calm radiating off him in waves, and smiled.

'It's ok, no need to be scared. You're safe, you and your friend.' He motioned to Airazor, not once taking him eyes off Leopard who in turn held his gaze; using him as a still point to work from, pulling apart the new lines of code and locking them away for Centinox to deal with later.

Once the programs were properly locked away he relaxed and nodded to the man in thanks. He slowly moved forwards and reached out a hand, never once shifting his eyes away from the young Maximals optics.

It was Leopard who broke visual contact between them first. Dropping onto his haunches as several warnings popped up. He was in a bad shape.

It took him a moment to recover and then he looked back up. The green haired man hadn't moved any closer.

'Leopard.' He finally spoke. 'I Leopard, that Airazor.'

'You can call me N'

He nodded as N's hand reached out to hover over Leopard's head. He pushed forwards, his head connecting with N's hand momentarily, brushing over an ear, before had pulled away and began to properly study the lock.

Calm, he had to stay calm.

He only knew some basics about wiring and electronics. Rattrap (and surprisingly enough, Dinobot) had been teaching him more so they could speed up the repairs to their ship, not that it was doing much in the way of getting the _Axalon_ back into the air. Really it was unlikely it would ever fly again, let alone survive the trip to the nearest Cybertronian colony.

The lock on the cage was simple, designed merely to keep even the smarter Pokémon from escaping. He easily wrenched the cover off with his teeth and rearranged the wires with some difficulty (damn paws).

He stepped back as the door swung open, allowing Airazor to flop out onto the ground. He nudged her back to her feet and the two turned to look at their saviours. The Trainers in uniform had all moved off, checking the conditions of the imprisoned Pokémon. Several larger Pokémon were already removing the cages from the building.

Oh, that's right; he had to call the rest of the Maximals off before they attacked the wrong people!

'N. Stand back. No fear. Please.' The teen nodded and allowed Airazor to pull him out of the way, the seeker recognising what he was doing.

'_Maximise._' For N sake he simple spoke the transformation command instead of shouting it like a battle cry. These _were_ allies after all (he hoped).

He watched the teen's eyes widen and he took a step back, a look of awe on his face, especially when Airazor followed Leopards' lead. The femme sat down next to the Trainer and smiled.

'Thankyou for getting us out, I was afraid we would starve before help arrived.'

'You're Predacons?'

Leopard scowled and turned away, focusing on the Xtransceiver in his forearm. Airazor shook her head.

'No, we are Maximals, though I do not blame you for mixing us up. It is impossible to tell us apart from looks alone, the sheer variety in appearance does that. The best way we have at the moment besides symbol' she pointed out the blocky wolf head near the inside of her wrist joint 'is by individual. There aren't that many of us so it's not hard to keep track at the moment.'

They were interrupted by an exited shout from Leopard.

'Optimus! Can you hear me?'

'Leopard, are you and Airazor alright? We're half a Megacycle away at most. We'll have you out of there soon.'

'Minor injuries and energon starvation but nothing serious, someone else just showed up and saved us. Oh, so don't attack the Trainers in blue and white uniforms, they're the good guys.'

'Understood. Its good to hear you. Optimus out.'

* * *

The three of them were standing outside, waiting when Primal dropped out of the sky, landing gracefully of the ground in front of them.

N gaped at the sight of his Beast Mode.

'You're… you're Reshiram!'

He dipped his head in confirmation, shifting slightly to let the other three down from his back. Centinox immediately moved over and transformed, scanners already checking the damage to Leopard's frame.

'But, I thought Reshiram and Zekrom were just a myth, after the stone failed to activate…'

'Every legend has a grain of truth to it little one, sometimes it just might just surprise you.'

Leopard frowned, that didn't sound like Optimus…

'So, the ancient war between truth and ideals? Was that even real?'

And so Optimus began to speak. The tale he told was that of The Great War, Leopard realised as he listened. Their leader spoke the truth as they knew it, but worded it such that it sounded like it had taken place here, weaving in his knowledge of the legends. It was clever, it was cunning, it was… not the Bossbot.

The words, the tone; it just didn't sound right.

'So you're not the first Reshiram? There were others?'

'Only one, we merely follow in our ancestors' footsteps.'

'Corruption and Equality… I never thought about what truth and ideals could have stood for in the legend.'

The teen had moved to sit down against the wall of the building earlier on and now he ducked his head in thought.

They were finally interrupted by Centinox, much to Leopards relief (he just wanted to get some rest!).

'Optimus, we should return to the Axalon. The younglings need energon and rest.'

'Of course Centinox.' The dragon turned back to the green haired Trainer. 'Thankyou again, for saving my men today. Maximals, return home and get some rest.'

It wasn't until they were in the air that Leopard found the energy to ask.

'Are you ok Optimus?'

'Prime Leopard, just… Prime.'

Sitting on their leaders back, the Maximals didn't see the frown stretched across his face.

* * *

Author's notes:

And so this is what happens when write an entire chapter without any real motivation, lose it just before you go to post it and have to rewrite the entire thing from scratch just after your Grandpa dies.

Yeh. I hate life right now.

This is a chapter that has hated me right from the start. I think the feelings mutual.

I'm not happy with it; this chapter has caused me more grief than any other chapter, even chapter two. However it is highly important for the plot of the next few chapters.

The quality's bad, I can't even find the motivation to properly edit it but bear with it and I'll come back with some better stuff next time (though I don't know when 'next time' will be exactly), maybe even come back and rewrite it at a later point.

Please, to all my readers out there, help me find the motivation to continue writing this or I'm just going to end up going back to the time travel fic I'm currently working on and ignore this story.

No, seriously, you guys are the only reason I have to keep going with these stories and not give up. Please don't forget that.

And to the guest who happened to be the only person who reviewed since I put the last chapter up: yes, those were the best names I could come up with. I don't know much about the various Cybercats from G1 and the Comics, or any of the various characters portrayed there so I could hardly make use of them. It took me six months to come up with anything _remotely_ decent for the purpose of this story before I even started writing the damn thing. As for the headcanon explanation; in the canon, Cheetor is often shown as somewhat unimaginative and childish, especially during the early days of the Beast Wars (I mean, who names themselves a cheater? Really?), I'm just following on with that. Its my way of pointing out the fact that Liepards look a lot like a Leopard to me...

If you really think its that bad then perhaps you could send me some other ideas for renaming the Maximals and the Predacons? Or I might just go back through the entire story and rename him like I did Black (who has been written as White since the posting of chapter 3).

(And if you hate those names that much, I wonder just how badly your going to react to some of the later additions to the Unovan Wars...)

But really you could have worded your response a lot better, it looks a lot like a flame from here...

~EclipseSeeker


End file.
